What's wrong with cross-border marketing of western coffee restaurants?

A unique style of "Zoo Cafe". (photo by reporter Cheng Wendi)

"Food and beverage play cross-border" is no longer a strange thing, in the catering industry has experienced great changes in recent years, traditional and fashionable coffee and western food in the continuous exploration out of many characteristics. Is food and beverage "cross-border" an inevitable trend? The reporter made an observation recently.

Venue: "Zoo Cafe", Fortune Square, West District.

Features: coffee, western food, Chinese food, drinks and other styles are available

Operator concept: open cross-border cafe, approachable, in line with the needs of Yibin, pay attention to customer feelings

A coffee restaurant, but still sells Chinese rice, you can even go next door to get some teppanyaki to eat. This will certainly provide a variety of services, but will it destroy the atmosphere in the shop and dilute the characteristics of the western coffee restaurant?

At around 3 p.m. on August 1, on the weekend, the reporter saw in this cafe with a variety of restaurants that about 70% of the seats were occupied, mostly young people in twos and threes, tasting coffee and drinks in a unique environment and chatting under air conditioning. but the style of a table of guests seems to be a little out of tune with the environment, they are enjoying a braised fish, which is a typical Chinese food.

The zoo cafe, which opened on June 19 this year, is such a comprehensive restaurant. Although it also has authentic coffee beans and classic western steaks, it also serves Chinese food and drinks. Some customers even say that Chinese food here is better than western food.

In recent years, great changes have taken place in the catering industry. Simply pay attention to the 'environment', 'style' or a single characteristic of food and beverage are more difficult, only the food and beverage that can really meet customers' leisure life and appetite can have room for survival. " Zheng Silu, director of the operation of the zoo cafe, said.

According to Zheng Silu's analysis, there is a large flow of people in big cities, so they can do "floating population consumption" and do some food and beverage with relatively detailed classification, but in prefecture-level cities like Yibin, they need a variety of services to retain customers. The audience of simple western food and coffee is too small, and only by doing comprehensive food and beverage can there be more repeat customers. "here, the needs of most customers can be met, the consumption is not high, the food quality is good, and the variety is rich, which is especially suitable for the leisure time of the family. Recently, we have received several family birthday parties."

"Coffee with you" takes the boutique route. (photo by reporter Cheng Wendi)

Venue: West Fortune Plaza, Rhine Spring "Coffee with you"

Features: professional and fashionable themed coffee, desserts and surrounding meals

Operator's idea: take the route of professional cafes and attract customers with high-quality specialty coffee which is always at the forefront of fashion.

In the evening of August 1, the elegant and quiet restaurant of "Coffee with you" still has more than a dozen customers. such a typical cafe is destined to be full of romance, pleasure, and petty bourgeoisie style, with the sun shining on the Western-style window lattice and scattered among the piles of books. The stereo in the museum is playing old songs from the old times.

The overall industry is not as expected, what about the cafe that still wants to maintain the medium-to-high line? Cao Wenhao, a cafe owner in his 20s, is confident that with the increase in the number of young people pursuing style, professional cafes also have their own way of survival.

"Coffee with you" is a Korean brand, and both Yibin stores are franchisees. Cao Wenhao said that since he was a child, he had a fondness for drinks and had a "tea age" for six years. When he was a university student in Chengdu, he fell in love with cafes. It was only after graduation that he planned to open his own restaurant. On July 14 this year, I joined "Coffee with you". Because it is still a "professional", the cafe basically maintained the middle and high-end route.

"Coffee with you" storefront style. (photo by reporter Cheng Wendi)

"due to the support of the head office, the quality of coffee is higher, and people who are interested in coffee can compare the difference between our coffee here and ordinary coffee." Cao Wenhao said that "Coffee with you" belongs to a shop with high quality coffee and its features have always been at the forefront of fashion. In addition to coffee, desserts are also featured in the store, with a per capita consumption of about 30 to 60 yuan, attracting many young people who pursue fashion.

Cao Wenhao said frankly that there is indeed a "comprehensive" problem of customer demand in prefecture-level cities, such as "a lot of people have to eat at dinnertime." In view of this problem, the store is also developing "food in line with the characteristics of Western-style cafes", striving to meet customers while maintaining the unique characteristics of the cafe.

Cao Wenhao believes that insisting on characteristic stores also has unique advantages. "people who really understand coffee and pay attention to details will have their choices. Although there are not many customers in prefecture-level cities at the present stage, with the development of the local economy and the improvement of people's living standards, Yibin basically has such a customer base, and there is a long way to go in the future, but I am confident."

"Al Coffee Western Restaurant" takes the traditional route. (reporter Cheng Wendi)

Venue: "Aier Coffee Western Restaurant" at Qiaotou, Rongzhou, downtown.

Features: Yibin old coffee restaurant, steak as the main hit

Operator's idea: the traditional route integrates "Internet +" and takes the road of practical development.

The El Coffee Western Restaurant, which opened in April 2009, can be regarded as a more established coffee restaurant in Yibin. According to its operator, the business positioning of the restaurant has hardly changed since its opening, and it has always been a medium-and high-end Western-style restaurant dominated by Western steak.

Due to the large number of private rooms, we can't see how many customers there are, but people come and go in the store. Wang Fugen, the person in charge of the store, said that their positioning for customers is mainly for young and middle-aged people aged between 30 and 40, with Western steak as the main hit, coffee and other drinks as the supplement, and pay attention to the basic elements of catering, such as the source of ingredients, cooking methods, service guarantee, and so on. we are on the road of solid development. Business was booming a few years ago, but it can be counted as "passable" in recent years.

"Al Coffee Western Restaurant" in-store structure. (photo by reporter Cheng Wendi)

Wang Fugen believes that no matter what stage the catering industry develops, the basic element of security is to protect the foundation of a restaurant, and only on this basis can we seek further development. Wang Fugen said that with the advent of the "Internet +" era, their coffee restaurant has also kept pace with the times, joining the models of group buying and online shopping. Although it is not big for the improvement of business volume, it can bring some customers who did not pay much attention to them before. With the development of the Internet, Wang Fugen believes that this piece may bring surprises in the business model.

(reporter Cheng Wendi Editor Yang Xiaochuan responsible Editor he Dong)

Source: Yibin News Network