The return of "Yang Guo" activates Chongqing's catering industry: a hot pot restaurant serves 200 tables a night, and a small noodle shop sells 400 bowls a day

“I haven’t been here for more than a month! It’s tough, more dishes!” On the morning of the 1st, in a commercial street in Jiulongpo District, after eating two ounces of small noodles, when the taste buds and stomach were satisfied, Mr. Zheng We and our diners were full of energy and started the first day of the New Year in the air full of fragrant noodles.

As the sunless people begin to return to normal life, their taste buds and stomachs are also being "relieved" during the New Year's Day holiday. During the process of foraging for food, catering stores are gradually becoming more lively. The fireworks are back!

On the 1st, upstream news reporters visited hot pot restaurants, noodle shops, Chinese restaurants, Japanese food shops and other restaurants and learned that as epidemic prevention and control measures continue to be optimized, during the holidays, Business in the catering industry is picking up. Even if they are busy, catering people are happy and, most importantly, their motivation is back.

Hot pot restaurant: it receives more than 200 tables a night, and the average queue is 20 minutes during peak periods

During the New Year’s Day holiday, many people also choose to sit around and have a warm hot pot meal .

Counting employees, arranging cleaning, and deploying disinfection. At 7 a.m. on the 1st, at the head office of a well-known hot pot brand in Nanshan Street, Nan'an District, the store manager Ms. Ran was already busy.

"The business last night was pretty good, with more than 200 tables seated. We were busy until nearly 1 o'clock in the morning." She said that in recent times, we have received more than 200 tables a day, which is considered relatively good. , seeing diners sizzling hot pot, changing cups and chatting in the store, I felt the familiar smoke and smoke coming back. "Before, we delivered food and communicated more with customers online. Now, many regular customers come , not only consumption, but also interaction with us. Everyone chatted with each other and shared some details of their own lives. Although we are not particularly familiar with each other, we have further communication because of the food. I think this is also a kind of hot pot fate. ."

▲Customers are eating hot pot in Nanshan, Nan'an District.

Ms. Ran revealed that there are about 140 people in the store. Due to holidays and other factors, there are now 60 people working. Business is getting better. In order not to affect customers' dining, the existing staff have to be busy even more. Many, "Those who have been exposed to the sun but have not been exposed to the sun, we remind them to take precautions. During the peak period, each staff member is expected to serve four or five tables of customers."

Mr. Ma, the account manager of the main store, also introduced He said that as far as he knew, considering factors such as privacy, some of the current guests would choose private rooms. On the first day of the New Year's Day holiday, the open private rooms were quickly filled up. Of course, some guests who had passed the sun would choose to stay in private rooms. Sit in the lobby. To this end, they have also made preparations in advance and made flexible arrangements according to customer needs. In addition, they also determine the number of reception tables based on manpower conditions. During peak hours, customers can queue for an average of about 20 minutes to eat.

Small noodle shop: It can sell more than 400 bowls a day, and its business has recovered 90%

A bowl of spicy noodles not only signals the return of the rich smoke and smoke in the streets, but is also closely related to citizens’ lives and consumption . Following the improvement of the prevention and control situation and policy support, street noodles are being served to citizens' tables again.

At noon on the 1st, reporters from Upstream News came to Yugao Jiuli Commercial Street in Jiulongpo. There are not many restaurants here, but they have a wide variety of restaurants, including skewers, barbecue, fish head, hot pot, noodle restaurants, etc. Chongqing Xiaomian Noodle House is a restaurant open 24 hours a day. In the spacious and clean dine-in area, two ladies were busy in the kitchen, attracting customers with various Chongqing classic noodles and fried rice. The Ecological Fish House next door seems more deserted. At noon on weekends, the dine-in table is covered with garlic, and waiters are chatting in groups.

▲Chongqing noodle shop, open 24 hours a day.

Sister Wang is an old employee of the small noodle shop. She said: "With the epidemic gradually easing, the business of the small noodle shop has gradually returned to 90% of the pre-epidemic level. Now it can sell more than 400 bowls a day. Mr. Wang, a citizen, said: "This small noodle shop has been open for almost a year. The store has a good environment and is even more lively at night. Sometimes I want to have a late-night snack." I often order takeout.”

The reporter saw in the ordering area that there were quite a variety of noodles and fried rice, and the noodle cook and fried rice chef were still busy in the kitchen area. After the reporter sat down, he ordered a bowl of noodles. Following the reporter's cough, there were also coughs from the other end of the dining area. Sister Wang said with a smile: "Including our employees, the people who come to dine in the store now are all 'yangkang' and 'yangguo', and we are used to hearing the coughs. Now, among the customers who come to dine in, most of them are eating well." The most popular variety is noodles, and some of them don’t taste good, so you have to eat a bowl of noodles to get a feel for it. "Another eldest lady said from the side: "We still have to ask diners to wear masks before and after eating. Everyone is still relatively conscious.”

Chinese restaurant: 20,000 yuan in revenue a day, business recovery 70%

Since Chongqing fully resumed work and production in early December last year, Chongqing’s restaurants have also resumed operations. With the gradual recovery, especially on the first day of the New Year in 2023, many citizens go to Chinese restaurants to dine in and enjoy themselves.

At 7 pm on January 1, reporters from Upstream News went to the Yueguangli Hotel located near the Qibo Center in Yubei District. This is a mid-to-high-end Chinese restaurant serving Shunde cuisine.

▲Customers are eating in the Chinese restaurant.

The reporter entered the store and found that there was no need to show the health code or venue code. The store manager, Mr. Liao, said: "Since the introduction of the new ten epidemic prevention measures, we have followed the relevant spirit of the document and no longer require customers to show their itinerary. QR code, venue code, health code and other relevant identity information. At present, the entire store is in compliance with the requirements of the community and has done a good job in epidemic prevention and control in public places. Therefore, as long as customers have normal body temperature and no obvious symptoms such as colds and fevers, Everyone can dine in the restaurant.”

Because it was dinner time when the reporter arrived, there were many customers coming to the restaurant: 7 of the 11 private rooms were full of customers who had ordered meals in advance. There were also 5 tables of customers dining in, but there was no queue waiting. Store manager Mr. Liao told reporters: "Compared with restaurants in communities and shopping malls, the customer flow of mid-to-high-end restaurants like ours will definitely recover slower. However, with the new year and new atmosphere, the momentum is not bad at present. On the first day of the new year, The day has returned to about 70% of the original level.”

A female customer told reporters: “I invited a few friends out to eat and chat today, which is also a good start for the New Year. . After all, I haven’t had a dine-in meal for nearly a month, so I still have to sit out and eat to feel like I’m enjoying life.”

▲The back kitchen of the Chinese restaurant has regained its smoky atmosphere.

There have been many positive cases across the country recently, and the Yueguangli Hotel is no exception. According to Mr. Liao, “After our store resumed dine-in dining on December 4 last year, employees in the store, including myself, successively developed positive symptoms such as fever, sore throat, and body aches. However, after nearly After one month of adjustment, all employees have recovered. If we need to increase manpower before the Spring Festival, we will gradually add auxiliary workers such as waiters and waiters."

On the morning of January 2, the reporter also said. I paid a return visit to Mr. Liao to learn about the business situation on the first day of the new year. He said: "Now the restaurant's purchase is relatively normal, and local dishes are easy to buy. It's just that some ingredients from other places are slower to arrive due to transportation reasons. As for revenue, it is also recovering. The revenue on the first day of the new year was about 20,000 yuan. I believe that as the Spring Festival approaches, business will gradually improve.”

High-end Japanese food store: Customers are more demanding. , the private rooms are often full

At 5 pm on January 1st, Gudao Main Store, a well-known local Japanese restaurant located on Yanghe 1st Road and directly opposite the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, welcomed the first batch of guests in the new year. .

Gudao Main Store, which has been open for six years, has been rated as a Dianping Black Pearl One Diamond Restaurant in 2021 and 2022. It is also the only Japanese restaurant in Chongqing on the list.

“We resumed dine-in dining on December 9,” ??said Qin Feng, manager of the Gudao store. “Judging from the current situation, after the return of this wave of ‘Yangkang’ consumers, business will Recovery still takes time.”

▲Customers dine at a Japanese restaurant. Picture source/photo courtesy of the store

Ms. Li, who lives in Guanyinqiao, made a reservation in advance for a private room to have dinner with a few friends that day. “This Japanese restaurant is the one where I eat the most in Chongqing, because it’s so far away. It's very close to my home, and the food is very good. I made a reservation for a private room because of the epidemic, and it still feels much quieter and more comfortable."

"Currently, all of our on-the-job employees have been vaccinated. , now we are also strictly wearing masks, measuring temperatures at multiple times, and thoroughly disinfecting tables before and after meals." Qin Feng said, "The return of 'Yangkang' is also the beginning of a new normal. For example, there are still family dinners in our store, but friends There are fewer dinner parties, banquets, and company gatherings, and customers are more demanding and often request separate private rooms. In order to meet the needs of guests as much as possible, our 24 private rooms are often full."

However, after the restoration, Gudao Main Store also faced some problems. "As the holidays and New Year are approaching, employee turnover is inevitable. We are also continuing to recruit people. Of course, there will still be a shortage of manpower."

▲The chefs in the back kitchen of the Japanese restaurant are busy. Image source/photo provided by the store

Qin Feng has no worries about purchasing. "The ingredients are guaranteed, the source and standards are strictly controlled, and the entire process is recorded and traceable."

Qin Feng told reporters: "In fact, those who can persist are the winners. Of course, brand stores will return to normal quickly."

"Starting again in 2023, we are still very optimistic about the recovery of the catering industry. Even after reshuffling, there may be new opportunities." Qin Feng said.

Voice:

Catering practitioners should think about how to seize the core needs of heavy consumers

According to Chongqing Daily, with the continuous optimization of epidemic prevention and control measures , Chongqing's offline catering, tourism, bars, KTV and other consumer businesses are gradually returning to normal, and there are signs of recovery in consumption. Customer flow in many business districts has picked up, and there are even queues for dining tables and parking. Data from the retail platform Meituan shows that from December 22 to 28 last year, online orders for in-store catering in Chongqing on the Meituan platform increased by 79% week-on-week, KTV orders increased by 158% week-on-week, and hot spring hotel orders increased by 174% week-on-week. %, New Year’s Day travel orders to Chongqing increased by 467% month-on-month.

The rebound in consumption is a good thing for caterers, but it also brings new thinking.

How to deal with new challenges such as prevention and control, funding, and operations?

"Recently, our business has been getting better and better!" Mr. Li, the person in charge of a national chain brand catering company, said that the epidemic prevention and control measures are constantly being optimized. For their catering practitioners, the most important thing is It has boosted confidence that everything will slowly get back on track. For catering people, they have to start new arrangements and plans. The original business methods and concepts need to be changed in line with the market. He suggested that in terms of project planning, a longer term should be considered, preferably about three years; in terms of products, Internet thinking should be further used for publicity and promotion, and at the same time, more attention should be paid to health and quality, which is also the topic that consumers are most concerned about; Finally, no matter how you compete, you still need to be strong. If you want to win back customers in the competition, the core is the competition of quality and service.

Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng believes that from the perspective of the national catering industry, the recovery of fireworks is still very gratifying, especially the consumer market in first- and second-tier cities. Overall, it is expected that mid-January will usher in a new wave of consumer dividends. Specifically, many restaurants now have made great progress in terms of food safety, product innovation, scene innovation, service system, customer stickiness, etc. These are all essential to attract consumers. In other words, catering practitioners have gradually summarized some directions and methods for their future development. Generally speaking, innovation, upgrading and iteration are a label of the entire era. In the future, how to seize the core needs and appeals of heavy consumers is a topic that every catering practitioner and brand must do.

Upstream News Reporter Zhu Ting, Feng Shengyong, Zhao Yingji, Tang Hao/text, pictures

Editor Xu Yuanzhe

Editor Li Yangguanyi

Review Feng Fei