May Day holiday, why is "dining assassin" everywhere?

Editor's note:

This May Day, we found the dining topics that are of concern to consumers and catering industry workers from those "dining events that have sparked hot searches," and have explored some new dining trends and category directions for 2024.

In this special edition for May Day, the third topic we focus on is: "Complaints about high prices - behind the outcry of high prices, the mismatch between dining prices and value."

"Assassins" besiege the catering industry, consumers frequently complain about high prices.

In the world of dining, one cannot avoid being attacked while wandering. Nowadays, in the catering industry, the banner of cost-effectiveness is held high, and assassins with exorbitant prices are everywhere.

Not long ago, Zhong Xue Gao Food (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. added information about the subject of execution, with an execution target of over 9.01 million yuan. The risk information shows that the company currently has two pieces of information about the subject of execution, with a total executed amount exceeding 9.83 million yuan.

Zhong Xue Gao's founder, Lin Sheng, has also been restricted from flying high and can only take the green-skinned train to Beijing. Since last year, Zhong Xue Gao has frequently been involved in topics such as layoffs, wage arrears, and lease termination.

The starting point of the decline undoubtedly originated from the complaints of the "ice cream assassin."

"Do not casually take unfamiliar ice cream, it will lead to misfortune." In the summer of 2022, when consumers inadvertently picked up the ordinary Zhongxuegao from the freezer, they only truly understood the profound meaning of this sentence when they found out it cost over 60 yuan at the checkout.

In 2018, Zhong Xuegao entered the ice cream industry, positioning itself as "high-end Chinese ice cream" with a national style and aggressive marketing, raising ice cream prices single-handedly.

However, the frequent product quality issues behind the high prices have led to the realization that high prices do not necessarily equate to high value. Once the mindset of an "ice cream assassin" is established, it is equivalent to consumers voluntarily blacklisting the brand, and there are very few cases of brands being able to recover from this situation.

A vigorous "anti-assassin trend" has begun to emerge, with hidden "assassins" in the catering industry being discovered one by one. They may appear ordinary, but they can inadvertently deliver a "heavy blow" to consumers.

First, it was the spicy hot pot, which trended on Weibo with the hashtag #OnlyDareToEatSpicyHotPotOnPayday.

Some netizens complained, "One stick of fried dough, one wide noodle, one piece of lettuce, two slices of lotus root, two quail eggs, a few meatballs... Can you guys tell me, is 31 yuan expensive?"

Many netizens posted in support, saying that a casual meal of spicy hot pot could cost as much as a full meal.

Expensive is just one word, I've said it more than once. In 2023, "spicy hot pot" trended 7 times, and the screen was filled with "expensive, expensive, expensive."

This is related to the strategy of "pricing by weight" and the average price of meat and vegetables for hot pot. Each dish exceeds the usual price, and consumers are not sensitive to the weight.

Although the decision-making power has been handed over to the consumers, this "vague pricing" will undoubtedly "deceive" some consumers who are too lazy to calculate carefully. They only took a few items, but the price is extremely expensive.

The same goes for "spicy hot pot" assassin, compared to spicy hot pot, the ingredients of spicy hot pot are more detailed, the price is higher, and it is carefully eaten, it is not a problem to eat seventy or eighty at a time.

Later, the "food assassin" 's criticism shifted from the self-selected category to fast food.

In the current era of 9.9 set meals, the criticism of "earning 20,000 a month, only daring to order two dishes at Laoxiang Chicken" has pushed fast food brands such as Laoxiang Chicken to the forefront. "What kind of class dares to order three meat dishes at Laoxiang Chicken?"

Eating two meat and one vegetable at Laoxiang Chicken costs about 40 yuan, and the new nobility of beef noodles, such as Chen Xianggui and Maji Yong, costs 26 yuan for a serving of beef noodles... Dining out has become a "heartache five times a week" for workers.

Fast food brands located in large shopping malls and high-end office buildings are gradually being abandoned by workers, turning to alleys and embracing Lanzhou noodles and Shaxian snacks.

Finally, "food assassins" are rampant in various categories of the catering industry, each with its own expensive methods.

For example, in the baking circle, the bagels from New York have doubled in value and can be sold for 60 yuan; the toast from Ginza costs 98 yuan each, and when it changes hands to scalpers, it can be sold for 300 yuan; bread is getting more and more expensive, and those with a monthly salary of 10,000 yuan can't even afford bread.

For example, in the hot pot circle, the topic of "why are hot pot bases getting more expensive" has surged to the top of the hot search, sparking heated discussions. "The 195 yuan double-person group purchase set meal, the base costs 68 yuan, it's so expensive, it feels like hot pot is becoming unaffordable."

In many consumption records shared by netizens, the hot pot base has long surpassed the old impression of thirty or forty yuan. The authentic Chongqing old hot pot is 88 yuan, and the pure pure pure butter pot is 99 yuan... With various freshly fried, high-quality ingredients, and authentic blessings, the hot pot base is becoming more and more expensive.

Behind the outcry of "expensive" by everyone is the mismatch between price and value.

Behind the frequent outcry of "expensive" by consumers is the return of consumption rationality, a significant increase in consumer price sensitivity, a new trend of roughly equivalent product price and value, and a return to a more simple dining era.

Returning to the original "ice cream assassin," with the high-profile brand strategy of Zhong Xuegao, some analysts mentioned that the cost of ice cream is generally not too high. The reason why it can be sold for over 60 yuan is that it is accompanied by social attributes and emotional value.

Although the cost of raw materials and logistics & e-commerce has increased, marketing expenses may account for the majority. Simply put, the cost of the eye-catching advertisements you see in the elevator and the huge endorsement fees of celebrities have all been transferred to the ice cream in your hand.

But with the awakening of rationality, consumers are no longer footing the bill. They are not only refusing to pay for marketing costs, but also for social value. Consumer demand has returned to its essence, no longer attached to various emotional and social needs.

This is also the reason why the popularity of internet celebrity restaurants has been declining in recent years, and their survival period has been getting shorter.

Although emotional value has become a new selling point for capturing young consumers, it still needs to be built on a solid product foundation, rather than being "pie in the sky." Without being able to eat well, no emotional value will be generated.

The rational return of consumers is also accompanied by the openness of catering information. After the high cost of hot pot base was criticized, many hot pot brands publicly disclosed the cost of the base to increase consumer trust.

In April, Laoxiang Chicken released a 200,000-word "Laoxiang Chicken Dish Traceability Report," detailing all aspects of the dish production process, including ingredients, suppliers, and operating procedures.

This undoubtedly greatly safeguards consumers' right to know about the goods and services. It also helps consumers understand the differences in various aspects between dining at home and dining out. With clearer cognition, there can be wiser consumption choices.

Of course, the current catering environment is not about pursuing cost-effectiveness or the lowest price, but about the quality-price ratio.

What can make consumers willingly pay the bill is when the product value far exceeds the product price, providing great satisfaction. Just like the current popularity of self-service categories, it also stems from the great satisfaction of consumer psychology.