It's really "interesting" to see the wonderful work of the restaurant chain industry.
—— Interview with Mr. Chen Zhonghong, General Manager of Shanghai Youyi Food Management Co., Ltd.
● Chen Zhibang Xia Yanling
Restaurant chain enterprises without directly affiliated self-operated stores are automatically and continuously clustered by franchisees. In fact, it can stand out from the fierce competition in the restaurant chain industry. Not only is it extremely prosperous, but the lineup is getting stronger and stronger. What is even more incredible is that even the famous international fast food chain giant was defeated by her superior competition in some "battlefields". Who is she? Please look at the wonderful flower of fast-food chain industry-You Yisi, which is really an "interesting" unique development.
Reporter: "You Yisi" is a little strange to me. It may be ignorance, or there are not many online stores in Shanghai, so I want you to introduce the background of the company first.
Manager Chen: It's not that you don't understand, but that we are unknown in Shanghai. The company was founded in 1999, with a bumpy and dramatic process. At that time, everyone put their heads together and thought that Taiwan Province products had a good response in the mainland market, so they decided to set up Youyi Food Management Co., Ltd. with the same investment. Our first choice to enter the mainland is Shanghai. We mainly use Taiwan Province's bubble tea, and use food-grade plastic cups and sealing films to make it convenient for consumers to take out. It can be said that we are the first to introduce Taiwan Province province's beverage-foam tea. Because this product is acceptable to everyone in Shanghai, including taste and flavor, it has formed a trend, which naturally caused many people to imitate and follow up. At that time, our price was 6 yuan a cup. Later, in order to win customers, other businesses began to cut prices blindly, and at the same time there was a phenomenon of cutting corners. At the most outrageous time, even the authentic bubble tea only costs 1 yuan and 50 cents. With everyone scrambling to follow up, there has been a low price of bad money chasing good money in the market. In order to avoid vicious competition, we temporarily closed our outlets in Shanghai and fully explored small and medium-sized cities in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. As Mao Zedong said, "rural encircling cities" has achieved good results in the current practice.
Reporter: Why did your company think of using "Youyisi" as the company name?
Manager Chen: "Interesting"-interesting! Popular and smooth! To make a brand catchy, almost half of China's 65.438+0.3 billion people casually mention "interesting" every day, and everyone can understand the taste. We have given many names, but the transliteration of "interesting" can also be linked with the English part, making it a convenient system for service, production and checkout.
Reporter: We know about bubble tea. How did you want to come to the mainland for development?
Manager Chen: This is also an opportunity for karma, which is accidental and inevitable. There will be many business opportunities in the mainland after the reform and opening up. Our four shareholders are all so-called mainlanders in Taiwan Province Province, that is, the second generation whose parents went to Taiwan Province Province in 1949, and they have a strong sense of national identity. When I was a child, my parents often mentioned all kinds of things in Shanghai. Of course, they yearned for nature and had feelings for Shanghai. After coming to the mainland, the earliest flagship store was opened in Xianxia Road, Shanghai, and at most it grew to more than 70 stores in Shanghai, including Tibet Road, Renmin Road, Pudong No.1 Yaohan, airport and exhibition.
At that time, we just wanted to develop in Shanghai and didn't want to go abroad. Later, low-price competition in the market led to a decline in the quality of milk tea, which caused general consumers to resent it. In an accidental case, a friend of Jingjiang, Mr. Dong Liu, thought it was very suitable for their development after drinking our milk tea, so he introduced our products to Jingjiang. At that time, he felt that it was not enough to use takeaway, so he opened two facades and restaurants to eat. As a result, business is very good. Later, it gradually developed into eight facades, and the service mode was also adjusted. This level of restaurant, food and drinks are very suitable for the consumption habits of people there. This successful model attracted the attention of many consumers, so they followed the map to find us and asked to join. Because most of the business is booming, forming a virtuous circle, so people have been joining later, which is also the result of unintentional insertion. At that time, development was extended by two main axes. Jiangsu developed Sheyang, Dafeng and Baoying in the form of building lakes, and Zhejiang began to expand rapidly with Zhuji as the leader. Now, as long as most county-level cities in Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangsu have our stores, the store operation has also changed from the initial "hot and cold restaurant" to a "composite leisure restaurant", and its business scope includes Chinese set meals, fast food western food and special drinks. Providing "value for money" products with elegant decoration has won the favor and trust of consumers. The average scale is more than 400 square meters, and gradually develops to 1000 square meters. Now there are more than 200 stores, most of which have become well-known landmarks for women and children.
Reporter: Are all these chain stores affiliated? Are there any self-employed people?
Manager Chen: At present, all the chain stores are franchised, and so far there is no self-operated store. This can also be said to be a special case of chain industry. Because in the process of rapid development, most resources are invested in hardware facilities and employee welfare; "If a worker wants to do a good job, he must sharpen his tools first." In order to provide more in-depth services, we established a logistics fleet, expanded storage, improved employee benefits and wages, and organized overseas travel. All successful enterprises are "people can make things happen", and companies must be based on "honesty" and put themselves in the other's shoes, which will naturally be passed on from mouth to mouth after being benign. Although there has been no big advertisement so far, it mainly spreads through two channels, one is the relative of the owner's friend and the other is the friend of the owner's relative. Most shopkeepers have also opened branches one after another, which is convenient for management and economical.
As it takes a long time to train teachers, the headquarters will also open a direct store in the near future. Thanks to all the regional agents and lovely colleagues for giving the company the opportunity to grow and supporting each other through the most difficult stage.
Reporter: You didn't open your own shop, so where did your experience of gathering franchisees come from?
Mr. Chen: We have a management team that has accumulated a lot of experience, and every store will truly reflect the business troubles. Just like teaching and learning, the headquarters will accept and improve with humility. For example, Vice President Li opened five stores, all of which were very successful and made money. Another example is Vice President Chen, who holds a master's degree in business administration in Taiwan Province Province, has been a senior director of a listed company and has complete practical experience; In addition, we also got the support of a group of professors from a college in Taiwan Province Province. In this way, the franchise stores will unite.
Just because we don't have a direct store doesn't mean we don't have the level of managing franchise stores. I have also worked as the chief commercial officer of Taiwan Province Province in a listed company in the beverage industry in Taiwan Province Province, and the nature of management work is overlapping; Many agents and dealers are also needed to make drinks, and their business mentality and management style are similar. According to market trends, launch new products and promotional activities in time to attract consumers.
There are two forces in the market, one is "push" and the other is "pull". For us, "promotion" means providing services to agents, making their operations professional, institutionalized and products standardized! It is to form a set of models on the basis of good faith, so that agents can learn and understand easily, trust and rely on us, and accept our guidance and management with confidence; "Closer" means bringing forth new ideas for consumers, and at the same time providing promotional activities to bring consumers closer.
Reporter: What is your honesty to franchisees?
Manager Chen: First of all, we will tell him all the risk factors, success probability and company characteristics. Of course, I won't clap my chest to ensure that he makes money. Secondly, the suppliers who provide products are required to be qualified manufacturers, and the products provided are true. In addition, the normal contact is strengthened, and the other is to inspect the franchise stores on the spot, check whether there is any phenomenon that does not conform to the business, help them improve when problems are found, and take mutual responsibility for consumers. The brand belongs to the agent, not someone in the company. It is up to everyone to maintain the brand image of the enterprise. We should protect regional agents due diligence, safeguard the best interests of regional agents, and connive at illegal business operations is unfair to other legitimate agents. Once violations are found, we will order them to improve within a time limit, and even notify the local industrial and commercial departments to revoke their signboards. Of course, we can't guarantee that the company will be perfect and there will be no problems in the production process, but we will face the facts and bear due responsibilities, and the problems complained by customers will be solved within a time limit. For example, because of the price increase of many materials, the company tried to digest them by itself, and then told the agent that we were making a reasonable profit. If we adjust the price, it will affect the whole body, and franchisees will also adjust the price, which must take into account whether consumers can bear it. We consider the general environment, the interests of consumers and three-dimensional thinking. The logistics fleet has to spend millions of dollars every year, and the accommodation expenses of the headquarters twice a year are also considerable. In addition, franchisees only charge the initial fee, and there are no other miscellaneous fees, so that they have no worries. In short, the headquarters should do its duty and benefit all agents.
Reporter: Do you have your own production site? Can franchisees purchase goods directly from processing plants?
Manager Chen: We don't have our own production base. Except some rice, noodles, vegetables and condiments are purchased locally, other main raw materials are provided by cooperative manufacturers, but there is no direct relationship between manufacturers and franchisees. The products that franchisees want are uniformly distributed by the company. We have our own fleet. At present, there are 5 large refrigerated trucks and more than 2,000 square meters of cold storage. We have two delivery methods. One kind is frozen products. There are two ways to transport frozen goods. One way is to deliver it by route, at least twice a month. Shops with large demand can also be delivered by car. Now all the shops have freezers. Frozen products are mainly sent to chain stores in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Henan, Hebei, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and other places, and now the radiation area is still expanding. The other kind is dry goods, usually at room temperature. Dry goods are usually delivered within 3 days. Dry goods are mainly transported by logistics companies, and the farthest destinations are Manzhouli in the north and Dujiangyan in the south.
Reporter: How are franchisees managed?
Deputy General Manager Li Lei: We don't accept all franchisees. First of all, we should consider personality, source of funds, ability to resist pressure and interpersonal relationship. Then go to the site to inspect the local consumption structure, dynamic planning and regional allocation; The engineering department will also supervise the construction and unify the requirements of the enterprise identification system. The department is responsible for the whole joining process after opening, and collects a certain joining fee from the franchisees, once every eight years. The standard of joining fee depends on the size of each region, national income, population and other factors; For regional agents, no matter how many stores are opened, the franchise fee will not increase. This is to prevent vicious competition and increase the brand effect. Of course, for the company, the sales of raw materials have also increased, and the company's benefits have also increased accordingly. This is also a factor that urges agents to develop branches. Secondly, the company supervises franchisees. If there are any problems in the store, we will provide help through supervision and keep visiting and checking to correct the irregular practices. The way of supervision is to set up regional commissioners, each store also has a person in charge, and the company also has business commissioners to manage several stores in sections. These people are rarely in the company, mainly walking below. Supervision is also a regular rotation, the division of responsibility areas, the person in charge, and the service is also managed. These people are trained by the company and have been in the company for at least half a year, so they also know the company's corporate culture and are familiar with the whole operation process. They have two tasks when they go to the store. One is to guide standardized operation, including quality, operation, hygiene, service and environment. The other is to find illegal operations or illegal problems and correct them. The supervision system is not only strict management, but also dedicated service.
Reporter: How is your training conducted?
Li Lei, Deputy General Manager: The training includes disciplines and technical subjects. The main part has written materials for standard operation. Just follow the rules, such as putting half a spoonful of sugar, but not one spoonful. Break down the movements first and then do it in one go, emphasizing rhythm and fluency. The subject is to teach by table, and the technical subject is to pass the internship from the master to the apprentice; Mainly through training, the so-called "professional" headquarters assigns instructors to enter the store for training, and trains specialized personnel according to various functions, such as store manager, foreman, cashier, clerk and so on. Until they can operate independently. In addition, our own R&D room not only develops new products and adjusts existing products, but also considers the taste of food when the season and temperature change, and R&D personnel will put forward some suggestions for creativity or change. There are also regional differences, different tastes in different places, and agents will also be reflected. We will analyze, summarize, judge and formulate countermeasures. The inspectors of the company will also feed back some market information and make some suggestions. For these, we should pay attention to the spirit of listening to other people's opinions, so our franchise stores have a high success rate, so basically the training has not stopped and has been going on.
Reporter: You call the restaurant a compound leisure restaurant. What does this mean?
Manager Chen: This is the result of our concerted efforts. Our courtyard leisure restaurant is a high-end product, low-end consumption, both Chinese set meals and western fast food, decorated with high-end western restaurants and children's play areas. Why do we still have a Chinese set meal? Because the consumers of western fast food are mainly children, many adults don't like western fast food. Come to our place, children can eat western food and adults can eat Chinese food. And our drinks, which are not available in fast food restaurants. In short, our product line is comprehensive and rich. The prices of our products are basically uniform, and very few single-item products may vary from region to region. In terms of business hours, we determine according to the actual local consumption demand, which can be from 10 in the morning to 12 in the afternoon. We can have dinner and afternoon tea here, and there is no obvious rush hour. Because our business model is relatively broad and suitable for more consumers, many consumers are willing to come to our compound leisure restaurant, which is suitable for couples, family dinners and business meetings. When our franchise store opened, quite a few county party secretaries and mayors cut the ribbon, because we are a relatively large project, which will have some impact on local consumption and cultural behavior.
According to the usual practice, some places with leisure restaurants in our compound may not be suitable for the existence of western-style fast food industry, so we put a lot of pressure on it. In some places, for the opening of our business, the genes of Mai X and Ken X have been greatly affected or even closed down, which is attributed to the efforts of all the staff of local franchisees. After all, "Interesting Compound Leisure Restaurant" is our brand in China.
Reporter: Now all your chain stores are affiliated, and they are all in second-and third-tier cities. Will you consider opening direct stores in big cities?
Manager Chen: Our more than 200 chain stores are basically located in county-level cities, which has something to do with our product positioning, but it is necessary to open direct stores. We have joined the Chain Home Association. According to its requirements, there must be two direct stores, but we don't have them at present. This is because of our development history, so many chain stores already exist. According to its own development needs, it plans to open a direct store in Shanghai in the short term. To tell the truth, we met a once-in-a-century development wave in China and opened the right store at the right time and place.
I still want to open two direct stores in Shanghai, but not in the center of Shanghai. Usually Shanghainese don't go to Nanjing Road, but foreigners must go to Nanjing Road. I have two purposes to open a direct store in Shanghai, one is to abide by the rules of the chain association, and the other is to make Shanghai a training base for the company. I will choose Nanhui, Qingpu, Jiading, Baoshan and other places to open stores. (Vice President Li: We have also been to many places in the suburbs of Shanghai and Nanhui many times, such as purchasing power. Shanghai's operating costs are too high. The rent in the suburbs should be at least 600 thousand a year, and it is much cheaper in the field of four or five hundred square meters a year. Let's start with "the countryside surrounds the city". Opening a store in Shanghai is mainly to consider becoming a training base).
Reporter: Who are your competitors now?
Manager Chen: In a sense, our competitors are not. The target markets of McDonald's and KFC are different from ours. A western restaurant is a western restaurant. They sell coffee, steak and the environment. Their prices are relatively high. Maybe a steak costs tens of yuan and a cup of coffee costs more than 20 yuan. Now some people learn our model, which is decorative in appearance, but they don't like core values and have no real spirit. There is no concern and service continuity for franchisees and agents. Moreover, we often send franchisees some company policies, precautions, issues that should be paid attention to in climate change, etc., and often call to keep in touch. In addition, we have two parties a year, one is the annual meeting, and some doctors and professors from Taiwan Province Province will be invited to Shanghai to talk about some ideas and ideas and communicate with them, and the other is the year-end dinner to have fun with each other. And I go to every store once a year. I can name all the shopkeepers. I know the situation in their stores. I have all their information.
Reporter: What are your development ideas for the next step?
Chen: Now we need to increase investment in the management part, product part, promotion part and advertising part of marketing to meet the needs of chain stores and consumers. Our chain stores are well known to local women and children, but they do not have extensive influence at home and abroad. Only in the Yangtze River Delta and East China, the coverage is relatively wide, but it is not ideal. We consider that the brand will develop, the consumption habits will still be cyclical, and the consumption patterns and behaviors will change. We should open different stores with different shapes and decorations for different age groups, and our products should also form a high-end consumption pyramid in the local area to meet different levels of consumer demand. There are many things to do, and we should increase investment in public welfare undertakings. As an entrepreneur, you should have such a mind and repay the society. Our public welfare investment will increase. The company regularly organizes blood donation twice a year, and the blood collection vehicle will come to our company every time. I sincerely thank all the agents and partners of * * *! Give me a chance to lead you to write an interesting history!
Reporter: Mr. Chen, your company's head (headquarters) and heart (distribution base) are in Shanghai, but your whole body (outlets) are in other places. This business model is strange and interesting, but I am still looking forward to experiencing the "interesting" compound leisure restaurant in Shanghai. I wish youyisi more fun! Thank you for accepting our interview!