2024-08-16
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This article is from the WeChat public account: Hongcan.com, author: Liang Pan; editor: Fang Yuan, original title: "The "corpse collector" of the catering industry tells his story: I have closed 42 hot pot restaurants in one month. This year is too bad!", the header image is from: generated by midjourney
"There are more and more big and old stores going bankrupt. This year, the number of big stores recovered is 5-6 times more than last year." "Last year, the turnover rate of equipment was only 2-3 days, but this year it has become a week." "The first half of the year should have been the peak season for selling goods (second-hand equipment), but this year the first half of the year has become the season for collecting goods." "We recovered 42 hot pot restaurants in one month, and some people lost more than 4 million in one year"...
Halfway through 2024, many people in the catering industry have seen their dreams shattered.
This year, the catering market has become more cold, and old and large stores can no longer bear it. Hot pot, tea, and baking have become the hardest hit areas. Entrants have also become cautious, and the warehouse turnover of equipment manufacturers has also begun to slow down.
At the end of last year, a second-hand equipment recycler summarized to Hongcan.com: there was a surge in store openings in the first half of the year and a surge in store closings in the second half of the year.
Entering 2024, the catering market has cooled down! According to Qichacha data, in the first half of the year, a total of 1.31 million catering-related companies were added nationwide. Compared with 1.68 million catering companies in the same period of 2023, the growth rate has narrowed significantly.
Popular catering startups such as tea drinks, baking, and hot pot have all experienced declines to varying degrees. In the first half of the year, the number of registered baking and tea drink-related catering companies fell by about 30% year-on-year, and the number of registered hot pot-related catering companies decreased by more than 7,000 compared with the same period last year.
The number of new entrants into the catering industry has decreased, and second-hand equipment recyclers have also clearly felt that business is not as good as before.
An Dawei, the person in charge of Gouge Second-hand Catering Equipment, told Red Can.com that in the first half of this year, the number of recycled equipment tripled compared to the same period last year, but sales fell by 20% year-on-year, and the turnover rate of equipment dropped to one week. In the same period last year, the equipment could be sold immediately after it was put into storage, and the turnover only took 2 or 3 days.
Shanghai Yuqing Catering Equipment is a company specializing in the recycling of high-end catering equipment. It was co-founded by two post-90s people from Anhui, Feng Jiafei and Liu Hongbing.
△Photo provided by the interviewee, Yu Qing recycled the oven
Liu Hongbing revealed to Hongcan.com that compared with previous years, some products are not selling well this year. Not only are prices unable to go up, but sales volume is also declining.
He gave an example, saying that last year, an oven could be sold for 40,000 yuan, but this year it can only be sold for 30,000 yuan. In the first half of the year, the number of equipment recycled by Yuqing doubled compared with last year, but sales fell by 30%.
At the same time, many equipment recyclers have found that the repurchase rate of second-hand equipment has dropped significantly this year. Generally speaking, many catering people not only buy second-hand equipment before opening a restaurant, but also continue to buy if their business grows and they want to open branches; after failure, these equipment will be sold back to second-hand equipment dealers.
Brother Hou, who runs a catering equipment recycling business in Guangzhou, told Hongcan.com that compared with last year, the equipment repurchase cycle has become longer.
△Photo provided by the interviewee, tea cabinet recycled by Monkey Brother
Last year, some of Brother Hou’s customers would come back to buy another batch of equipment after 2 or 3 months after buying equipment. Sometimes, Brother Hou would meet several returning customers in one month.
"This year, most of the people who come to buy again are because their equipment is broken and they need to replace the old equipment. Although there are people who buy equipment to expand the scale or change the category, they are very few," said Monkey Brother.
"The first half of the year should have been the peak season for selling goods, but it turned out to be the season for collecting goods." Monkey Brother told Hongcan.com that not only did the wave of bankruptcies come earlier, but most of the people who consulted him about equipment this year were old players with experience in the catering industry.
Relevant data shows that from January to June 2024, more than 1 million restaurant companies went bankrupt, equivalent to the total for the whole of last year.
Zhang Hengming, a native of Tangshan, is engaged in the second-hand equipment recycling business in his hometown. He is known as Brother Heng in the business. He also feels deeply about this.
He told RedCan.com that in previous years, the catering industry was in its peak season from summer vacation to National Day. After October, the peak period for catering stores to close down was reached. However, after May Day this year, many catering stores closed down one after another. Zhang Hengming revealed that after May Day, the number of equipment he recycled each month increased by one third compared to March and April.
△Photo source: Hongcan.com
Compared with previous years,The wave of restaurant closures came earlier this year, and a number of old and large stores could no longer hold on.
An Dawei found that this year, more old stores that have been in business for more than 10 years have closed down. In addition, it is also difficult to operate large stores. The number of large stores recycled by Gouge second-hand catering equipment has increased by 5 to 6 times compared with last year, and most of them have been in business for 5 to 10 years.
Andawei recently acquired a 1,500-square-meter store, which was run by two brothers for seven years. The store has a wide variety of business, including Sichuan cuisine, barbecue, grilled fish, etc.
Before closing the store, the daily turnover was 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, but it could only break even, or even make a small loss. Later, the two brothers had a quarrel over purchasing and decided to close the store the next day.
Among the catering stores recovered by Yuqing, old stores accounted for 50%, and most of the stores that closed down last year were new stores that had just opened.
Liu Hongbing analyzed to Hongcan.com that this is related to the decrease in the number of newbies entering the catering market and the decline in enthusiasm for opening stores.
"Now many people understand that starting a business is risky and have become more cautious." In his view, after last year's reshuffle, a number of new stores have closed down in the market. In addition, fewer people are opening stores this year, so more old stores have closed down.
Hot pot, tea and baking, which have a high chain rate, have always been popular for catering startups. This year, these tracks also staged a brutal elimination competition.
According to Qichacha data, by the end of 2023, there were 410,000 hot pot-related restaurant companies. By the end of July this year, the number had risen to 400,000. The number of restaurants has dropped by nearly 10,000 in half a year, which shows how fierce the competition is.
Recently, An Dawei successively bought back three franchise stores of a Chongqing hotpot chain brand. According to him, among these three franchisees, the one who lost the least also lost more than 3 million. Among them, one franchisee originally engaged in the building materials business, but when the industry was in recession, he crossed over to the catering business, and ended up losing more than 4 million in one year.
This year, the hotpot and barbecue restaurants that Zhang Hengming recovered the most in Tangshan were also hotpot and barbecue restaurants. Many of the stores had only been in business for half a year to a year. Taking into account the expenses such as rent, labor, and franchise fees, such a store would have lost at least 400,000 to 500,000 yuan.
Houge buys back 40 to 50 stores every month, 70% of which are hotpot restaurants. He told RedCan.com that due to the short winter in Guangzhou, many hotpot restaurant owners earn enough money for a whole year in just 3 to 4 months. But this year, this idea is simply unrealistic.
He said that hotpot restaurants in Guangzhou have been closing down in large numbers since March.
△ Guangzhou second-hand equipment trading market, photo taken by Hongcan.com
Tea and coffee, as categories with a high degree of standardization, have always been favored by entrepreneurs. This year, the scale of the tea and coffee market has also slowed down. Monkey revealed that the number of milk tea shops he has bought back is second only to hot pot restaurants.
At the same time, this year Monkey Brother also repurchased dozens of stores of a certain coffee chain brand. The number of stores of this brand has shrunk by more than half compared to the peak period.
Bakeries are also having a hard time.
Liu Hongbing told Hongcan.com that due to the low threshold, there are many entrants, and many have also gone bankrupt.
One of Yuqing's clients invested more than 1 million yuan to open a bakery, but it closed after only three months of operation. The equipment was sold, and he only got back 30,000 to 40,000 yuan.
△Photo provided by the interviewee, the Malatang display cabinet recycled by An Dawei
Some online celebrity categories have experienced rapid rise and fall. This year, Tianshui Malatang became extremely popular, and a large number of people followed suit and flocked to this market. However, many of their stores only lasted a few months.
An Dawei said that many Tianshui Malatang stores closed down within three months of operation. However, many of the Tianshui Malatang stores were pure takeaway businesses, and most of their losses were within 100,000 yuan.
Since the beginning of this year, the trend of restaurants "fleeing" from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen seems to be more obvious.
Public data shows that in the first half of the year, Beijing's catering industry revenue fell 3.5% year-on-year, and Shanghai's accommodation and catering industry fell 3.6% year-on-year. According to Qichacha data, in the first five months of this year, the number of registration and revocation of the four first-tier cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen) was 31,000, a year-on-year increase of 3.7%.
△Photo source: Hongcan.com
The consumer market is sluggish and customer traffic in shopping malls has decreased. Monkey Brother found that some shopping malls in Guangzhou have raised their rents, and some shopping malls have even doubled their rents, forcing many restaurants to withdraw.
He told RedCan.com that due to poor business, these owners could not pay rent, utilities, and their equipment was locked up by the property management, so they could not take it away. In the end, they could only contact equipment recyclers to solve the problem. More than half of the stores he recycled had such problems.
Competition in Beijing's catering industry is equally fierce. An Dawei told RedCan that he bought back 42 hotpot restaurants in Beijing within one month, breaking the record.
Last year, most of the hotpot restaurants that Andawei bought back were unlicensed. This year, franchised stores have become the mainstream.
Many newbies and veterans in the restaurant industry have become cannon fodder. An Dawei revealed that this year, the number of restaurants in Beijing that have been open for more than 10 years has increased. Some new restaurants even closed after only one or two months.
One of An Dawei's clients closed his store after less than three days of operation. Before opening the store, the owner was full of confidence and planned to open the first fried food store on that street. Unexpectedly, before his store was renovated, four new stores of the same category popped up. The owner suddenly lost confidence in the business and closed the store after only three days of operation.
In contrast, Zhang Hengming, who recycles second-hand equipment in Tangshan, found that some catering stores are doing relatively well.
Among the stores he has handled, less than 5% are run by husband and wife. He told RedCan.com that compared with other types of stores, husband and wife stores have a longer survival period. Moreover, in third-tier cities like Tangshan, the lower-end the brand, the more popular it is and the better it survives.
On the one hand, the couple who open a shop will do everything themselves, without having to consider labor costs, and no one will be a hands-off manager. Unlike a partnership between friends, who will care about who does more and who does less, as well as the distribution of profits, there will be more friction.
On the other hand, it is relatively stable for a family to run a store together. Zhang Hengming found that the closure of a husband-and-wife store was mainly due to the fact that the revenue did not meet expectations, or there were urgent matters at home and he could not take care of the store business.
"Opening a restaurant is worse than being a corpse collector." In the eyes of many people, recycling second-hand equipment is a lucrative business with low risks.
After communicating with many catering equipment recyclers, Hongcan.com learned that many catering equipment recyclers have experience in the catering industry. They all said that catering equipment recycling is more risk-resistant than catering.
A few years ago, Liu Hongbing opened a Boboyu takeaway store. He originally planned to use this store as a flagship store and then recruit external investors. However, after actually doing it, he realized how difficult it was to attract customers. Later, Liu Hongbing shelved the Boboyu project and started a catering equipment supplier.
After working in the equipment recycling business for several years, Liu Hongbing found that the investment cost was lower and the risk was smaller.
Opening a restaurant involves many costs, including labor, rent, ingredients, and operations. The cost of second-hand equipment vendors is mainly in warehousing. At the same time, the equipment can be sold to catering businesses and resold to peers.
Zhang Hengming also opened a restaurant.
A few years ago, Zhang Hengming and two friends opened a barbecue restaurant with an area of more than 100 square meters in Tangshan, with a total investment of 100,000 yuan. At the beginning, the barbecue restaurant had a good business, with daily revenue of 5,000 to 6,000 yuan and a net profit of 50%. But the good times did not last long, and later the daily revenue dropped to about 1,000 yuan.
Last year, Zhang Hengming started the catering equipment recycling business.
His biggest feeling was that he was no longer anxious.
“Although recycling second-hand equipment is tiring, working in the catering industry is also tiring and anxious.Now that I have received the equipment, I can estimate how much money I can earn."
He recalled to RedCan.com that in the past, when he opened a restaurant, he had to purchase ingredients, prepare dishes, serve meals, entertain guests, and clean up every day, and he could only eat at 9 o'clock in the evening. Now, he only needs to clean equipment, shoot videos, and communicate with customers. He does not have to worry about daily revenue, nor does he have to worry about no customers or bad reviews.
According to him, it took less than three months for him to recycle second-hand equipment and the training tuition and annual rent of 20,000 yuan were all recovered.
He told Hongcan.com that the gross profit margin of this industry can reach 45%-50%.
However, there are still only a few people like Zhang Hengming and Liu Hongbing who have transformed from catering people to "catering corpse collectors". Some entrepreneurs still insist on fighting to the end on this path.
An Dawei revealed that the owner of a Chongqing hotpot restaurant he bought back was a second-generation restaurant owner. Although he suffered a loss of more than 3 million yuan, he recently opened a sour soup hotpot restaurant.
The boss’s original words were, “Since I lost money in the hot pot, I must make it back here.”
This article comes from the WeChat public account: Hongcan.com, author: Liang Pan; editor: Fang Yuan
This content is the author's independent opinion and does not represent the position of Huxiu. Reprinting is prohibited without permission. For authorization matters, please contact [email protected]
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