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"it's really not unfair for them to close the store."

a customer who heard that din tai fung was about to close and came to the store specifically to consume told china newsweek this after the meal.

public information shows that din tai fung was founded in taiwan, china in 1972. its founder is yang bingyi, a native of yuanping city, shanxi province. it mainly runs xiaolongbao and noodle businesses and is widely praised for its hand-rolled noodles, solid fillings and "golden 18 folds".

din tai fung xiao long bao. photo by yu yuan

in 1993, din tai fung was selected as one of the "top ten gourmet restaurants in the world" by the new york times. in 2001, din tai fung landed in shanghai and opened its first store on the mainland; in 2004, din tai fung entered the beijing market in the form of a franchise.

however, just recently, din tai fung’s official website issued an announcement stating that din tai fung’s 14 branches in beijing, tianjin, qingdao, xiamen, xi’an and other cities in mainland china will gradually cease operations before october 31, 2024.

you know, din tai fung has only 180 stores worldwide. closing 14 stores at one time means that the scale has shrunk by nearly one-tenth.

"pilgrimage"

zhao zhiqiang, the founder of big pizza, still remembers the scene of his "pilgrimage" to din tai fung 20 years ago.

at that time, zhao zhiqiang had just founded big pizza in beijing. one day, a friend took him to xinyuanli outside dongzhimen, saying that a very good restaurant called din tai fung had opened there.

when he arrived, zhao zhiqiang was stunned by the whole row of transparent kitchens. through the glass, chefs wearing tall hats and white shirts were making dumplings by hand. a few minutes later, trays of dumplings were brought out from the kitchen, and the whole restaurant was suddenly steaming hot, "just like a temple."

after sitting down, zhao zhiqiang didn't dare to order too many dishes, because they were too expensive. a simple tray of steamed dumplings cost hundreds of yuan. moreover, the portions were very small. "for example, the four-happiness roasted gluten was only a small portion." this made zhao zhiqiang, a big man from northeast china, not very comfortable. "in our northeast dialect, it's 'rare eight forks'."

although the average customer spending is only around 150 yuan, in the minds of many people, din tai fung is considered high-end chinese food.

chain management expert wen zhihong told china news weekly that strictly speaking, 150 yuan per person is not considered high-end dining. currently, the industry generally considers 500 yuan per person as the dividing line between high-end and mass-market dining. "but din tai fung is not a traditional formal restaurant. its main dishes are noodles and snacks. its prices are obviously higher than the normal price range of snacks. even goubuli steamed buns cannot compare to it."

china newsweek visited din tai fung's beijing store and found that its most ordered special dumplings and crab meat dumplings were priced at 60 yuan/10 pieces and 100 yuan/10 pieces respectively. there were also more expensive black truffle dumplings, which were sold at 110 yuan/5 pieces. in addition, a 10% service charge was charged for dining in. these were unimaginable in 2004, when the average monthly income in beijing was less than 2,400 yuan.

ding tai fung is indeed expensive. photo by yu yuan

putting aside the price, din tai fung’s dishes and service were indeed quite good back then.

yang qun lives in sanyuanqiao, beijing, and there is a din tai fung restaurant 20 minutes’ walk away. she and her family have been going to din tai fung for a meal for more than a decade, and after she started working, she can go there 20 to 30 times a year, and she has been adding money to din tai fung’s account. when asked about the reasons for her persistence over the years, she believes it is the stable products and excellent service.

it is understood that the production of din tai fung's xiaolongbao has strict standard procedures, "5 grams of skin, 16 grams of stuffing, 18 folds, the total weight must reach 21 grams, and it can be served after being in the steamer for 4 minutes"; in terms of service, it is reported that in din tai fung's new employee training, there is even a special course called "listening to the sound of chopsticks falling", and team members need to learn to listen to the sound to identify the location and deliver the food quickly.

zhang xiao from qingdao has a deep feeling about this. during her pregnancy last year, if she wanted to go out to eat, din tai fung was her first choice. "from the moment i walked in, the waiter paid attention to me, greeted me with a smile, helped me get the mat, put my bag away, and responded promptly to other service requests."

upon learning that din tai fung was going to close, yang qun and zhang xiao were both a little reluctant. in her mind, no chinese food in mainland china could surpass din tai fung.

disenchantment

in din tai fung’s announcement, the closure seemed to be due to the expiration of the business license.

in fact, din tai fung's stores in mainland china have two operating entities, namely beijing hengtaifeng catering co., ltd. and shanghai guangcheng catering management co., ltd. the former is responsible for operating din tai fung's 14 stores in beijing, tianjin, qingdao, xiamen, xi'an and other cities, while the latter is responsible for operating din tai fung's 18 stores in shanghai, suzhou, wuxi, nanjing, jiaxing, hangzhou, ningbo, guangzhou, shenzhen and other cities.

the stores currently closed are actually those under beijing hengtaifeng catering co., ltd., while the stores under shanghai guangcheng catering management co., ltd. are not affected and are operating normally.

however, the industry generally believes that the closure of din tai fung stores in beijing and other places is more related to poor business conditions. according to taiwan tv news reports, din tai fung's 14 stores in north china had an initial estimated loss of 44.8 million yuan from january to july this year.

zhao zhiqiang told china newsweek that consumers have become disenchanted with din tai fung.

the 20 years since din tai fung entered the mainland have been the 20 years of rapid development of the local catering industry. the gap between them and din tai fung has been rapidly narrowed. in terms of service, there are companies like haidilao, and in terms of dishes, there are companies like dadong.

more importantly, with the change of consumption concepts, din tai fung can no longer match consumers' perception of the xiaolongbao category. "the public has a fixed price point for each catering category. it may be acceptable to spend 150 yuan per person on seafood and japanese food, but it is not acceptable to spend more than 100 yuan on a meal of steamed buns," said zhao zhiqiang.

all in all, zhao zhiqiang hasn't been there for almost 10 years. he can't think of any reason to go. he won't go to banquets, and he thinks working meals are too expensive.

on the other hand, the higher cost rigidity of high-end catering also dragged down din tai fung.

wen zhihong explained that the gross profit of high-end restaurants seems particularly high because its cost structure is different from that of mass-market restaurants. high-end restaurants often invest more in hardware, rent and manpower. taking din tai fung's stores in beijing as an example, almost all of the existing 8 stores are located in core business districts, such as xidan, wangfujing, and guomao. in addition, the pursuit of freshly wrapped and steamed food also means that the kitchen staff is indispensable. all of these have become a burden for stores after consumption has become more rational.

the "china consumer insights 2023 and outlook 2024" released by nielsen iq china shows that 43% of chinese respondents said they would strictly control the overall spending amount, and 37% said they would change their consumption patterns to seek the best price/lower price products.

in zhao zhiqiang's opinion, behind the closure of din tai fung stores is the fact that a large number of similar companies are facing difficulties. in fact, din tai fung is not the only high-end restaurant that has announced the closure of stores this year.

just after the chinese valentine's day, the high-end restaurant l'atelier 18, located on the bank of the huangpu river, announced that it would suspend operations. earlier, osteria oyster seafood restaurant on jinxian road, kor shanghai on nanjing west road, and shanghai yuzhilan on julu road also closed down one after another.

hongcan big data shows that in the past five years, restaurants in shanghai with an average customer spending of more than 500 yuan per person accounted for 1.35% of the total number of restaurants, about 2,700. by july this year, this number had dropped by more than 1,400, with more than half of the restaurants shrinking.

shrink

however, chen lu disagrees with attributing din tai fung's closure to changing times.

she has lived in beijing for ten years and has never been to din tai fung before. after hearing the news of din tai fung's closure, she decided to call her friends to have a meal, "after all, it has one michelin star."

because she heard that there were a lot of people recently and was worried about the queues, chen lu went to din tai fung cuiwei store before 11 a.m., before the restaurant opened. unlike the closure notice that stated that the store would be closed before october 31, this store would be closed on august 31. the store service staff explained that the rent was due.

perhaps because of the closure, the sweet and sour spare ribs and four-happiness roasted gluten that chen lu wanted to order were no longer available. in the end, she and her friend ordered half a portion of fresh meat dumplings, half a portion of crab meat dumplings, one portion of shrimp fried rice, one portion of garlic fried amaranth, one portion of braised lion's head, and one portion of hot and sour soup, which cost 273 yuan.

while waiting for the food, chen lu looked around the restaurant. it was pitifully small. the front hall was probably less than 100 square meters, with only 20 tables and 80 seats. there were no private rooms. it looked like a fast food restaurant. the tableware was just the most ordinary pure white porcelain plates and bowls, which had nothing to do with high-end exquisiteness.

din tai fung beijing cuiwei store. photo by yu yuan

fortunately, the food still managed to regain a lot of points.

chen lu counted the dumplings that were served first and found that there were 18 folds on them. the hot and sour soup was also very solid in ingredients, and the stir-fried amaranth with garlic tasted very fresh. the most satisfying dish was the shrimp fried rice, with golden eggs, plump shrimps, and distinct rice grains. "this is definitely a perfect score," but the fried rice tasted a bit like a pre-prepared dish.

but when it comes to service, chen lu really has nothing to complain about.

she had read a report that said din tai fung's waiters should observe the angle of the customer's tea drinking, and if the customer holds the cup more than 45 degrees, the tea is almost finished, so they should take the initiative to refill it. however, during the two-hour meal, except for the first pour of water by the waiter, the waiter never helped to refill the water again, even when the cup was empty.

halfway through the meal, chen lu wanted to order more dishes because she didn’t expect the portions to be so small, but she called the waiter twice and no one responded to her.

it's not that the waiters have bad attitudes, it's just that they are too busy. the din tai fung that chen lu went to had only five waiters in the front hall, one of whom was also responsible for the cash register at the front desk. so during peak hours, four waiters had to take care of 80 guests, "which was really hard for them."

when checking out, chen lu discovered that the meal actually cost 300.3 yuan, "oh no, i forgot there is a 10% service charge."

it's not just the service that's been reduced. although zhang xiao is very sad about the closure of din tai fung, she also admits that the dishes are not as good as before. "i used to order beef shank noodles. at first, it was big pieces of meat, thick soup, and tripe. later, it was replaced with beef brisket, and the soup was not as thick, until it was finally taken off the shelves."

china news weekly also visited several din tai fung restaurants in beijing recently, and the staff generally reported that the customer flow has increased significantly, at least doubled, and at most several times. however, even so, at 8 o'clock in the evening, the din tai fung wangfujing store was still not full, while there were long queues in front of juqi, xiaodadong, and ma liuji in the same mall. in the face of cost-effectiveness, feelings are ultimately worthless.

in fact, the 18 din tai fung restaurants operated by shanghai guangcheng catering management co., ltd. have already cancelled the service fee. in taiwan, din tai fung's prices are also cheaper. for example, the classic crab meat dumplings in taipei 101 cost nt$370 per 10 dumplings, equivalent to about rmb 81.

after leaving din tai fung, chen lu originally planned to take a photo with her friends in front of the restaurant, but suddenly a customer walked to the front desk "angrily". from the conversation, it seemed that he wanted to complain to the store manager about the poor service.