Wen Heyou was exposed to layoffs and salary deductions.

Wen Heyou was exposed to layoffs and salary deductions.

Wen Heyou was exposed to layoffs and deduction of wages. A number of employees broke the news that Wen Heyou had started a round of large-scale layoffs years ago. As a popular new consumer catering brand, Wenheyou has completed two rounds of financing of over 100 million yuan. Wen Heyou was exposed to layoffs and deduction of wages.

Wen Heyou was exposed to layoffs and deduction of wages. 1 following the wave of layoffs on the internet, some companies in the new consumer industry followed suit.

On February 16, according to Fast Consumer, many employees of Wenheyou said that the company started a round of large-scale layoffs years ago, and the number of layoffs in some departments exceeded 60%; Years later, a new round of layoffs continues.

In this regard, the relevant person in charge of Wenheyou Public Relations responded to the interface news that layoffs are normal personnel changes caused by the company's business adjustment, and many positions in the company are also recruiting people. At the same time, all kinds of projects are in progress now, and new projects and formats will come out one after another.

According to the data, Wen Heyou, born on 20 1 1, started from a stall selling fried ribs in the hands of founder Wen Bin, and gradually expanded lobster, sausage, stinky tofu and other categories in several years, creating the popularity of super Wen Heyou. After the C round of financing in June, 20021,Wenheyou's valuation reached 10 billion yuan, making it one of the new consumer catering culture companies with the highest valuation in China.

Driven by capital, Wen Heyou went out of Changsha, went south to Guangzhou, and then marched into Shenzhen and Nanjing. However, Wen Heyou, who left, was not acclimatized. Some analysts pointed out that layoffs are only part of the "declining trend" of Wenheyou, and the "top flow" of this catering industry is long gone.

The exposed layoffs will be deducted from wages.

According to employees who broke the news, Wen Heyou laid off employees as expected.

One week before the Spring Festival this year, Wen Jiake (pseudonym), who joined the immersive theater project of Changsha Wenhe Youmou, was told that the project had been stopped and received a notice of layoffs from the company. When he was "optimized", Wen Jiake had been employed for less than three months and had not passed the probation period.

It is reported that the project involving layoffs is a charging project, similar to the float parade that Wen Heyou landed to realize the vision of "Dining Disney".

According to public information, Wen Bin, the founder of Wenheyou, has repeatedly said that Wenheyou wants to be "Disney in the catering industry". "We are catering, but not only catering, but also need to explore the local market culture. If it is only positioned in catering, there will be business limitations. "

Wen Jiake said in the news that Changsha Wenheyou's project to build an immersive theater is to emulate Disney. The project is to build the sixth floor of Wenyou River in Changsha, and the workload is not small, but the progress is not smooth.

First of all, the personnel have not been fully staffed, and Wen Jiake has to bite the bullet when he encounters unfamiliar game fields; Secondly, the setting of IP theme has changed. In more than two months, the script scheme has undergone seven or eight major adjustments, and the top management has never reached a unified opinion on the project subject.

It was not until the whole project was stopped that Wen Jia and other colleagues who did content planning and design received the notice of layoffs.

At present, Wenheyou has "super Wenheyou" in Changsha, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and Nanjing is the fourth city where Wenheyou will land.

In February, 20021,Wen Heyou announced that he would enter Nanjing, and planned to choose Changle Road 132, Qinhuai District, Nanjing, with a total investment of 500 million yuan. It is expected to be completed and opened by the end of 20021.

This layoff also affected Nanjing Wenheyou. According to Yu Hong (a pseudonym), a laid-off worker of this project, what he did for Nanjing Wenheyou was Ming Dynasty culture.

On 202 1 12, Yu Hong and other members of the team were suddenly told that the culture of the Ming Dynasty would be abandoned and changed to the culture of the Six Dynasties. After being recalled from Nanjing, Yu Hong received a notice of layoffs from the company on the same grounds that "the project should be suspended and the personnel should be optimized".

Because Nanjing is a new project, the number of people who want to "optimize" far exceeds that of Changsha project. "From more than 60 people in the heyday to about 20 people, it is said that it will be cut."

It is reported that this round of layoffs involves many departments other than Wenheyou Catering, and the proportion of "optimization" in some departments is as high as 60%.

In addition to layoffs, the remaining employees are also facing salary deductions. Wen Heyou's employees will not be paid in full every month. At the end of the year, 10% of performance pay will be paid as the year-end bonus, while in 2026, all employees will have no year-end bonus, 5438+0.

Regarding the information about layoffs, Wen Heyou responded that layoffs are normal personnel changes caused by the company's business adjustment. At present, many positions in the company are still recruiting people, and new people will join the company after the year. All the projects of the company are advancing and new projects will come out.

Expansion outside Changsha was blocked.

Changsha, with a strong cultural and entertainment background, has produced many online celebrity brands, of which Wen Heyou is one of the most concerned.

About Wen Heyou's entrepreneurial history, a report in cheung kong graduate school of business introduced that at the age of 22, Wen Bin quit his sales job in an automobile company and set up a street stall in Changsha with a start-up capital of 5,000 yuan, mainly selling fried pork ribs.

In addition to the necessary expenses such as buying a big car and purchasing goods, 4000 yuan was spent, and the remaining 1000 yuan was all smashed on the signboard. In Wen Bin's words, this is called "brand awareness".

Signs began, and Wen Bin's "sharp ribs" gradually became explosive snacks, and more and more people lined up.

At that time, Yang Ganjun, the co-founder of Wenheyou, was a sausage supplier and Wen Bin was his customer. The two became familiar with each other and opened an "Old Changsha Fried Friends Association" together, and the brand of Wenheyou was formally established.

Since then, with the booming business, during the period from 20 12 to 20 16, Wenheyou brand has added some sub-brands, such as Wenheyou lobster restaurant, Wenheyou Changsha sausage, Wenheyou stinky tofu, six-point toast, Zhuo Yi pasta and so on.

According to statistics, by 20 15, Wenheyou had 8 stores in Changsha, with accumulated revenue of over 100 million and gross profit of over 40 million.

20 17, Wenheyou, located in Jiangge, Du Fu, had to be demolished due to the transformation of the old city. Seemingly ordinary relocation, Wen Bin seized this opportunity to further graft the marketing gimmick of "street culture" into the snack business.

In 20 18, after obtaining a strategic investment of not less than 70 million yuan from Tang Renshen Group, Wenheyou Changsha Hisense Plaza Store, which cost nearly 1 100 million yuan, opened. Different from previous stores, Wenheyou introduced more than 100 merchants this time, mainly Changsha folk snacks, and Wenheyou was upgraded to a "super Wenheyou" with an area of 20,000 square meters and a height of 7 floors.

At the time of opening up, the social media culture of punching cards and planting grass prevailed. Through community planting and short video marketing, Wenheyou has become a holy place for punching cards among online celebrities.

Coupled with the integration of barbershops, billiards rooms, homestays and art galleries, this grounding method quickly opened the traffic entrance for Wenheyou. 201910 March, Changsha Wenheyou Lobster Restaurant queued over 7,000 tables, and released16,000 numbers a day, setting a new record for the catering industry.

The success of Changsha Wenheyou quickly attracted the attention of capital. According to Tianyancha, in February 2020, Wen Heyou received nearly 100 million yuan of Series A financing from Jiahua Capital; In April of 20021year, the investors of Wenheyou Series B were Sequoia China Fund, IDG and Huaping Capital, with an amount of 500 million yuan, and the post-investment valuation exceeded 65.438+0 billion yuan.

With the blessing of capital, it not only strengthened Wen Bin's ambition of "Disney in the catering industry", but also provided support for its expansion outside Changsha. As for the expansion plan, according to Feng Bin, CEO of Wenheyou, it is planned to open about 20 urban Wenheyou in the next five years.

The first stop of Super Wen He You was in Guangzhou. In July 2020, Super Wenheyou, with an investment of 200 million yuan and an area of 5,000 square meters, landed in Guangzhou, next to taikoo hui Shopping Mall in Tianhe District of CBD.

At the beginning of the business, there were more than 2,500 excellent queues in Guangzhou, with an average queuing time of 4 hours. However, the good times did not last long. According to media reports, many well-known businesses, such as Fengtonghui barbecue, pork chop and a hot and sour powder, have left Guangzhou Wenheyou one after another because of the drop in passenger flow.

According to media reports, one year later, Guangzhou Wenheyou changed "Super Wenheyou" to "Guangzhou Wenheyou". In addition, many products in the store have also been replaced. Crayfish, once the main course, was replaced by seafood.

In April, 20021,Shenzhen Wenheyou opened, with an area of 4 times that of Guangzhou. However, even with the introduction of famous old shops such as "Bright Pigeon" and "Shajing Oyster", Shenzhen Wenheyou, like Guangzhou, has become "empty" after experiencing the explosion in the early days of its opening.

In September, 20021year, Shenzhen Wenhe Youyuan signboard was removed and replaced with a new signboard "Laojie Oyster Market". Wu Xian, general manager of Shenzhen Wenheyou, said that after the transformation, Shenzhen Wenheyou will present a future market with Cyberpunk style, including seafood market, vegetable market and bazaar.

Today, Wenheyou Nanjing Store is still in preparation, but the news of layoffs has come out. Many people think that Wen Heyou is facing a situation of acclimatization.

Difficult cross-regional integration

Changsha has been successful in the local area, but its expansion has not solved the problem that people in Shenzhen and Guangzhou like to eat. What's wrong with Wen Heyou?

"Our initial idea was to promote Huxiang culture and spread Huxiang culture through the carrier of food." Wen Bin once told the media that Super Wenheyou is not only a place with delicious food, but also a rich platform for displaying street culture.

However, after leaving Hunan, there is an unavoidable problem in the nationwide replication and expansion, that is, the difficulty of cross-regional replication of culture. The diversity of living customs determines that it is difficult to copy the culture of a region to the whole country for all consumers to accept and love, no matter from the perspective of sustainability or freshness maintenance.

Zhu, a researcher at China Brand Research Institute, pointed out that Wen Heyou has a very deep regional cultural color. Changsha, as a punching place for network celebrities, has its own limitations, that is, it cannot meet and match consumers in other regions except Changsha.

Although Wen Heyou has now realized this problem, by focusing on the localized market culture and adhering to the concept of "one city, one policy, one store, one policy", Wen Heyou has gathered diverse cultures and delicacies in a centralized place and integrated them into the local culture. Regrettably, at present, the "drastic" reform of Wenheyou in Shenzhen and Guangzhou has had little effect.

Moreover, most consumers come to consume food and beverage without papers and friends to publicize their market culture conspicuously. In the final analysis, the quality of catering (taste and quality) is the key to retaining people. However, Wen Heyou's dishes are often criticized for not buying back enough.

On social platforms, many netizens who have been to Wenheyou commented that Wenheyou's food is average and its taste is not worthy of its fame. It's similar to the snacks outside, but it doesn't have the economy and taste of snacks, so that when I come to take pictures, I click on the card and leave.

Zhu pointed out that if the scene-experience catering model like Wen Heyou wants to go far, the quality of catering is still the key, and consumers will eventually return to the essence of food.

Wen Heyou was exposed to layoffs and deduction of wages. On February 9 this year, some media broke the news that Xicha laid off 30% of its employees and the information security department laid off all employees. Although Xicha responded at the first time that the rumor was untrue, it still caused waves in the hearts of consumers.

Then the tea-loving storm began to spread among major Internet companies.

On February 17, according to the media "Fast Consumer" report, many employees broke the news that Wenheyou had started a round of large-scale layoffs years ago, and the number of layoffs in some departments exceeded 60%; Years later, a new round of layoffs continues.

Although the relevant person in charge of Wenheyou Public Relations responded to the outside world, "layoffs are normal personnel changes caused by the company's business adjustment. In fact, many positions in the company are still recruiting people, and new people will join the company one after another after the year. The company's projects are now in progress, and new projects and formats will come out one after another. " However, it did not specifically respond to the contents of the above employees.

As a popular new consumer catering brand, Wenheyou has completed two rounds of financing of over 100 million yuan. Today, the valuation has reached 654.38+0 billion yuan, making it the top stream in the catering industry. Behind the rumors of layoffs, what happened to Wen Heyou?

Behind Wen Heyou's layoffs

According to Wen Jiake, an employee of Wenheyou, most of the laid-off employees joined the company after July 20021year, mainly involving the immersive cinema project planned by Wenheyou Changsha and the Nanjing Wenheyou project.

At first, Wen Jia thought it was her own problem. When she tried to further negotiate compensation, HR said: Is there no problem before the project is decided?

As one of the responsible employees of Changsha project, she said that the project should cover the sixth floor of Wenyou River in Changsha, and the workload is not small; During this period, the IP theme of the project has changed, and the top management has not reached a unified opinion. The script plan has undergone several major adjustments, and it was not finalized until the notice of layoffs was received one week before the Spring Festival in 2022.

Although Wen Heyou's official reply is normal personnel optimization, in fact, this layoff may not be normal for Wen Heyou.

In February 2020, after Wen Heyou received a strategic investment of nearly 100 million yuan from Jiahua Capital, the territory of "Disney in the catering industry" began to expand outward.

In July, 2020, Guangzhou Super Wenhe Excellent landed in taikoo hui, a commercial landmark in Guangzhou, with an area of 5,000 square meters and a height of three floors. At the beginning of the business, there was a grand occasion of customers queuing crazily. However, after three months, the passenger flow of Guangzhou Chaowen and Youyou decreased significantly, and many businesses withdrew.

Some people think that this is caused by the rapid expansion of Wenheyou, unsuccessful commercialization, strategic mistakes, or market environment. But in fact, for Wenheyou, a new consumer restaurant with huge traffic, whether it is commercialization or expansion, it may need to go back to the most fundamental level to discuss.

The wind rises and falls in the street.

The essence of Wenheyou business model is not much different from that of food street.

Just from the current point of view, most offline food courts have not formed a unified theme style, and shops can decide their own styles and characteristics by paying after they check in, which makes it difficult for the entire commercial complex to leave a clear impression on consumers.

Wen Heyou just broke this point. Super Wenheyou is more like a restaurant operator, restoring the street lifestyle of Changsha in the 1970s and 1980s. The layout of all kinds of snacks, leisure shops and facilities landscape has local characteristics in Changsha. Through its nostalgic theme scene, its packaging is output as a complete IP, which integrates complex formats such as catering, beauty and entertainment, forming a cultural and commercial complex.

However, this is precisely the reason that restricts the expansion of literature and Excellence. There are two ways to realize wenhe. One is to share the income through the store without charging rent and property fees, and the other is to charge a certain rent and property fees.

In order to create a unique market culture scene, Wenheyou introduced mostly non-chain, small-scale old brands, unwilling to invest more, and relatively low willingness to move from the street to the central business district. In the early stage, Wenheyou was expanding, so Wenheyou could only introduce these businesses at no cost.

However, with the decline of passenger flow, early merchants left one after another. Although Wenheyou gives rent and publicity support, the unstable traffic makes it difficult for businesses to control the stock, and the income is often not proportional to the effort.

The reason for falling into the traffic dilemma may be that Wen Heyou's positioning is difficult to replicate.

In Changsha, Wen Heyou is a top catering star. With the theme of market culture scenes in the 1980s, it covers many experience scenes other than food, such as marriage agencies, dance halls, barbershops, dry cleaners, community neighborhood committees, fruit shops, cinemas and so on. Its unique positioning of "market culture+special food" has quickly become a phenomenon-level network celebrity punching place, with an average daily traffic of over 10,000.

However, it is not easy to adapt to the needs of local consumers according to local conditions after leaving Changsha. What Wen Heyou wants to do is to be a window for foreign tourists to know about the city, but Changsha Wen Heyou can't do such a window when he goes to Guangzhou.

Young people's preferences shift with the arrival of new things. The attraction of Wenheyou is that young people come here to punch in and take photos, but the weak cultural foundation of the market is not enough for Wenheyou to create a cultural space with distinctive regional style in cities outside Changsha. Although the decoration style refers to local characteristics, it lacks local genes and consumers do not pay the bill.

Can Wen Heyou's dream of eating Disney come true?

Spring River Plumbing Duck Prophet, capital is always the most sensitive. Since last year, retail, catering and other enterprises have closed their stores due to the epidemic, and then the epidemic spread to large Internet companies, and the news of layoffs and contraction spread like wildfire.

The catering industry hit hard by the epidemic was in an uproar. After Haidilao announced the closure of 300 stores, Xiabu Xiabu said that it would close 200 loss-making stores and stop expanding. Tea, which is favored by young people, is also doomed. Modern China Tea Shop announced the closure of several stores, and Xicha announced layoffs.

As the "dark horse" of the new consumption track, Wenheyou has always been concerned by the capital market. In February, 2020, Wen Heyou shouted the slogan of "building Disney in the catering industry" after receiving an investment of nearly 100 million yuan from Jiahua Capital.

Subsequently, major investment institutions have "come to the door". Feng Bin, CEO of Wenheyou, once said that in the years when Wenheyou was operating, there were hundreds of investment institutions actively looking for it.

With abundant funds and promising capital, can Wenheyou build a "Disney in the catering industry"?

First of all, look at Disney's industrial chain: design different IP characters and storylines around the main axis of animated films. Build a business model through brand value and continue to develop, and build a creative industrial chain. For example, people who like Mickey Mouse will go to see a series of movies over and over again, and also buy various peripheral collections.

Unlike Wenheyou, Wenheyou itself is an IP, which gains traffic through cultural IP and marketing and earns money from the whole industry chain.

When people are among friends, they will be influenced by street culture in the 1980s. Once they are separated from their friends, this emotional connection will disappear and become the fun of talking with friends. Disney's IP is the product of time and the memory of several generations. Every IP is a classic that cannot be copied, and the story created by Disney connects these exclusive and scarce IPS in series.

Wen Heyou created not relevant scenes, but only memories of a generation. People who like Wenyou are mostly middle-aged people who made a lot of noise in the 1980s, or "Generation Z" who punched cards out of curiosity and conformity. And this time-consuming and labor-intensive market scene in the 1980 s is easy to copy and easily eliminated.

From this perspective, Wenheyou can't become Disney, but its original business model of "catering+culture+real estate" is a new benchmark for the catering industry. In the restaurant track with serious homogenization, Wen Heyou quickly walked out of the circle with his own characteristics and style. However, it is not enough for Wenheyou to rely solely on the card of "feelings". Standing at the end of catering, we still need to find a route and business model that is more in line with our own development. On the road of continuous external expansion in the future, Wenheyou faces many challenges.

Wen Heyou was exposed to layoffs and deduction of wages. On March 17, the news of large-scale layoffs of Wenheyou was further fermented and the market was hotly debated.

It is understood that a few days ago, many employees of Wenheyou revealed to FMCG that Wenheyou had started a round of large-scale layoffs years ago, and the number of layoffs in some departments exceeded 60%. Most of the employees involved in this layoff were employed after July, 20021year, mainly involving the immersive cinema project planned by Wenheyou Changsha and Nanjing Wenheyou Project.

In response to this news, Blue Whale Financial reporter contacted the core management personnel of Wenheyou for verification. The other party said, "We didn't lay off staff." But then, the relevant person in charge of Wenheyou brand responded to the reporter and said: "Layoff is a normal personnel change caused by the company's business adjustment. In fact, many positions in the company are still recruiting people, and new people will join the company one after another after the year. The company's projects are now in progress, and new projects and formats will come out one after another. "

When the peak falls, Wen Heyou goes out of the province.

It is understood that Wenheyou brand was first born at 20 1 1. At that time, it was just a stall selling fried ribs in the hands of its founder Wen Bin. In the following five years, Wen Bin successively expanded Wenheyou Lao Changsha Lobster Restaurant, Wenheyou Sausage and Wenheyou Stinky Tofu. , intending to climb the peak of Changsha local specialty snack business.

Until May of 20 18, "Super Wenheyou" appeared in Hisense Plaza in Changsha, and Wenheyou ushered in an advanced version. "It restored an old Changsha community in the1980s in a 7-story, 20,000-square-meter space." For this super literary friend, there is an article that describes it like this.

Don't be disappointed, Changsha's "Super Wenheyou" once caused a sensation after it was put on the market, such as "the daily average passenger flow exceeded 10,000", "the highest daily turnover rate 10 times/table" and "the platform broadcast volume exceeded 65,438+600 million" ... There are countless achievements, and it is its success that made the brand famous and the founder Wen Bin Company famous.

In fact, before this, Wenheyou's crayfish and snack bars had already been laid out all over the country, with thousands. However, Chaowen Heyou did not officially leave the province until 2020. At that time, with the blessing of nearly 100 million yuan of financing, Wen Heyou went out of Changsha ambitiously, went south to Guangzhou, and marched into Shenzhen again the following year.

At first, Guangzhou and Shenzhen received a good response, especially Shenzhen, which created a grand occasion of "40,000+number" at the beginning of its opening, which made the market see the possibility of copying Wenheyou in different places. However, after the heat, Wenheyou began to face the dilemma of a sudden drop in the number of people and the withdrawal of businesses.

At the beginning of 65438+ 10 this year, according to the Beijing News, compared with the opening in the spring of 200210, the number of Shenzhen Wenhe Friends Store dropped sharply, many stores in the venue were closed, and a store specializing in retro style in the 1980s was in a state of withdrawal. In addition, Guangzhou Wenheyou was also exposed that many local businesses were evacuated, some dining areas were closed, and the front door was deserted.

Combined with the recent layoffs of new projects in Nanjing, many people think that Wen Heyou is facing a situation of acclimatization.

Wen Heyou wants to be Disney in the food industry. What can he export?

Once sought after, and even boasted to be "Disney in China's food industry", why didn't it continue to be brilliant? In the discussion on the topic of "How to evaluate Guangzhou's literary friends" on the Zhihu platform, we may be able to see clues.

In the message below the topic, a local netizen in Guangzhou said: "I can't agree with the function of Guangzhou Wenhe Tour to preserve the memory of the city. As a Guangzhou native who has never left except for traveling, I will never recommend Wen and you to any friends who come to Guangzhou to travel. In terms of architectural environment, except for some detailed elements, there is no local characteristics on the whole, which is not much different from Changsha store, and the locals have no * * * sound. Even if I take 10,000 steps back, even if I imitate the characteristics of urban villages, I can't understand why you should pay special attention to urban villages in Guangzhou. "

In fact, there are not many such comments.

It is understood that in recent years, Wenheyou has gradually developed from "focusing on Changsha's feelings" to "one city, one product", aiming to integrate into local culture. For example, WeChat official account, Guangzhou Wenheyou official introduction: Wenheyou belonging to Guangzhou people; For another example, Shenzhen Wenheyou changed its name to "Old Street Oyster Market", claiming to be the first independent IP with regional characteristics and a brand-new field based in Shenzhen. Regrettably, this series of attempts has brought consumers' "incomprehension" and a sharp drop in passenger flow. . .

In this regard, Shen Meng, executive director of chansons Capital, said that the characteristic of Wenheyou is Changsha's night culture. If it is replaced by the local characteristics of the target market, Wenheyou is not good at it and cannot give play to its advantages. It is quite difficult to become an outsider and make local characteristics in the local area. Therefore, instead of going to a city for a product, we should give full play to the characteristics of Changsha and Wenheyou, and do what we are good at, but attract tourists with marketing methods acceptable to local people.

However, he also pointed out that Changsha's nightlife culture is both leading and unique in China, including the wave of domestic variety shows set off by the former TV station Xiang Jun, which is not only supported by the professionalism of employees, but also by the market atmosphere. However, the cultures of other cities may be very different, and Changsha's mature night culture cannot be integrated into the local area.

Therefore, how to solve this problem better is the direction that Wen Heyou should consider more in the next development. "Where is the positioning? Output what? How to output? After thinking about these three questions, the prospect of Wen Heyou is still considerable. " The insider said.

According to previous media reports, Wenheyou began to prepare for IPO in 2020 and is expected to land in Hong Kong stocks in 2024. Before this, was Wen Heyou frustrated and faded out of the market? Or will it break through the predicament and realize listing?