They only sell 18 dishes, with an average of 50 yuan per person. This batch of small restaurants is crazy busy with long queues.

The minimalist mode of only serving eighteen dishes, will it become popular in the future?

"Can't believe they only serve eighteen dishes, the queue is crazy!" "The eighteen dishes are great for a meal, with an average of 50 yuan per person, it's really worth it to treat someone." "The boss only serves eighteen dishes, the dishes are cheap, freshly cooked and not pre-made, the only downside is that you have to come at off-peak times."

Recently, Red Dining Network noticed that a number of "only serving eighteen dishes" restaurants have become popular in Beijing, Hebei, and other places. What is the charm of these eighteen-dish restaurants?

Restaurants that only serve eighteen dishes are attracting a crowd, with some people driving two hours to queue up.

A restaurant that only serves eighteen dishes may sound unusual, but it is quietly becoming popular in Beijing, Hebei, and other places.

At the end of December last year, Yuan Bin opened a "Master Said · Hunan Restaurant" near a residential area in Chaoyang District, Beijing. The signature dish is dry pot pig intestines, as well as some home-style Hunan stir-fries, including Sichuan pepper stir-fried beef, hot and sour chicken gizzards, sweet and sour pork, etc., with prices ranging from 29 to 59 yuan. The biggest difference from other Hunan restaurants is that Master Said only serves eighteen dishes.

"Our store is quite popular on this street. In the hottest half month, we ranked first on the Beijing Dianping Hunan cuisine popular list!" Yuan Bin is quite satisfied with the business in his store, which can serve more than 200 guests every day, with about three to four tenths being regular customers.

Red Dining Network noticed that Master Said is currently ranked first on the Dianping Beijing Hunan cuisine popular list and the good review list, and the store's popularity is indeed good.

In Beijing and the surrounding areas, there are many restaurants like Shifu Shuo that only serve 18 dishes. For example, Beijing's Lige Brothers Restaurant, Yanjiao's Kangge Restaurant, and Langfang's Zhangjia Restaurant are all popular local restaurants. According to Dianping, most of these establishments have opened within the past year.

Not long ago, Zhang Qin, a post-80s mother, and her family drove more than 50 kilometers on a workday to Kangge Restaurant in Yanjiao. She told Hongcan.com that they were initially attracted by the slogan of only serving 18 dishes.

Hearing that Kangge Restaurant was doing well, Zhang Qin even made an online reservation in advance. "By 6 o'clock in the evening, the restaurant was already full, and several signature dishes were sold out." On social media platforms, many consumers from Beijing, like Zhang Qin, drove one or two hours to Yanjiao just to experience this new dining concept.

The Zhangjia Restaurant in Langfang is also very popular. Netizen "Nana" posted that they started online queuing at 11 o'clock in the morning, and they have already queued for more than 20 tables by grabbing a spot on time.

Some consumers claimed, "I queued 3 times and finally got to eat on the fourth try." "I arrived at one restaurant at 5:30 in the afternoon and was told to wait for 2 hours, so I went to another restaurant. When I arrived, there was no need to wait, but when I left after eating, there were already many people waiting at the door."

Red Meal Network found that in addition to Beijing and surrounding cities, restaurants that only serve 18 dishes have also appeared in cities such as Hangzhou, Xingtai, Handan, Yangshuo, and Quanzhou. For example, Fangjia Menu·only serves 18 dishes, Jingxi Jingyan (only serves 18 dishes), Chuan Relatives·only serves 18 dishes, 18 dishes for rice, 18 dishes for Gan cuisine, etc.

In addition, some restaurants have also transformed and started to try serving only 18 dishes.

In March of this year, Nanluo Fei Cat·Spicy Grilled Fish, a grilled fish brand that has been established in Beijing for 17 years, announced the launch of 18 classic dishes, and stated that 3 of its stores have already been adjusted to "Spicy Grilled Fish + only serving 18 dishes." At the same time, its flagship brand "Goldfish Pot," which specializes in water-cooked fish, has also adjusted 2 stores to the model of "Water-cooked Fish + only serving 18 dishes."

At the end of last year, the local Quzhou restaurant, Fangjia Cai Pu, which has been open for 20 years, opened a new store in Hangzhou called "Fangjia Cai Pu - Only 18 Dishes," mainly selling Quzhou specialty dishes, including Qianjiangyuan pickled fish and Twenty-Eight Tofu.

However, according to observations from the Red Restaurant Network, the current "Only 18 Dishes" restaurants are mostly single stores, with few chain catering brands.

Fixed SKUs, change 2-3 dishes per month according to sales volume

Undoubtedly, the most attractive aspect of a restaurant that only serves 18 dishes is "Only 18 Dishes."

These restaurants continuously highlight the label of "Only 18 Dishes" from the store name, storefront, interior design, menu, and even tableware packaging.

"Eighteen is easy to remember. Young customers will find this restaurant very distinctive, which is conducive to spreading the word," Yuan Bin said. "We only offer eighteen dishes, which are easy to remember and spread. In addition, the chef said that the business is for the residents of the surrounding community. Eighteen dishes are enough to meet the daily needs of customers and also reduce the cost of choice for consumers."

Wang Ze, the manager of the "Fang Family Cookbook" restaurant that only offers eighteen dishes, said that having fewer SKUs will reduce the pressure on the supply chain and allow for same-day purchase and sale of ingredients, ensuring the freshness of the dishes.

"In fact, it's very simple. By doing less but doing it well, we can ensure the freshness of the ingredients and truly avoid using pre-made dishes," Wang Ze said. In his view, having too many products would put pressure on the store's on-demand cooking, while having too few products would not be enough to sustain the business of a store. Only offering eighteen dishes can make the future replication of the store easier while ensuring that there are no pre-made dishes.

So how were these eighteen dishes selected?

Browsing the menu on the Red Restaurant Network, it was found that the eighteen dishes are mostly popular home-cooked dishes that are well-known to the public. Apart from rice, there are no other staple foods, and some restaurants don't even offer alcoholic beverages, truly achieving an extremely simple SKU. Many restaurants also emphasize the purchase of ingredients on the day of use, and once they are used up, the corresponding dishes are sold out.

Yuan Bin summarized the selection criteria mentioned by the master—dishes that the team is good at, that customers like, that are easy to make, and that are seasonal.

Yuan Bin stated that when selecting products, the team primarily focuses on dishes they are good at. Since the team's main focus in the past was on pork intestines, the master suggested that the signature dish should be "Dry Pot Sour Cabbage Pork Intestines." As the master positioned the cuisine as Hunan cuisine, the restaurant selected some dishes with high consumer acceptance, such as stir-fried pork and stir-fried beef. New seasonal dishes are introduced each season, along with some home-style meat, vegetarian dishes, and soups.

"When we develop new dishes, we also consider the craftsmanship aspect. We won't introduce dishes with overly complicated preparation, such as the Hunan-style chopped pepper fish head," Yuan Bin stated. From the perspective of future store replication, the master would choose relatively simple dishes.

At the same time, Yuan Bin mentioned that the restaurant will rank dishes based on monthly sales data, and the bottom 2 or 3 dishes in terms of sales will be eliminated, and new dishes will be introduced to maintain a total of eighteen dishes. "Over time, these eighteen dishes are basically the ones that customers love to eat."

The selection of the Fangjia recipe menu items is also based on the degree of consumer preference. Wang Ze told Hongcan.com that there are several brands under the Fangjia recipe, and about 80-90 dishes have been developed. Fangjia recipe only offers 18 dishes in its stores, selecting the popular Quzhou dishes sold in all stores over the past 20 years, such as Quzhou duck head, Qianjiangyuan pickled fish, and Twenty-eight Tofu, and then adjusting based on actual sales.

"The adjustments will not be too large. Based on the weekly or monthly sales data, if some dishes are not selling well, we will consider trying other dishes," said Wang Ze.

In other words, these restaurants that only offer 18 dishes will update their menus periodically, providing consumers with some freshness while maintaining the number of 18 dishes.

Is the minimalist mode becoming popular?

Is the 18-dish restaurant just a temporary gimmick, or can it become a long-lasting brand? Will the minimalist mode it represents become popular in the future?

In the opinion of Zhai Bin, a columnist for Hongcan.com, the 18-dish concept will continue to be popular.

"This concept is quite good. Only offering 18 dishes makes the brand very distinctive and memorable," Zhai Bin said.

Currently, the catering industry has entered a low-profit era. In this situation, the minimalist SKU is just a superficial representation. The ultimate goal is to establish differentiation, improve operational efficiency, and increase profit margins.

The slogan "only offering 18 dishes" is not only easy to remember but also easy for store promotion. At the same time, it is also convenient for spreading on social platforms because restaurants with unique features are more likely to attract consumer interest.

From the consumer's perspective, Zhai Bin believes that by offering only 18 dishes, although the product range is limited, it can basically meet consumer demand and this model is particularly effective for those who have difficulty making choices.

According to observations from the Red Restaurant Network, the current 18-dish restaurants are mostly located near residential areas, with simple decorations and mainly catering to local residents. Yuan Bin and Wang Ze have both revealed that based on their observations, customers rarely order more than 10 dishes at a time, and 18 stir-fried dishes can basically meet the needs of customers, with 2-3 dishes being updated regularly.

At the same time, 18-dish restaurants provide regular meals, and although the variety of dishes is limited, the overall cost performance is relatively high. For example, the average spending per customer in several 18-dish restaurants in Beijing is between 60-80 yuan, while in other regions, it is around 50 yuan. This kind of pricing is attractive to consumers as it allows them to have a proper meal.

From the perspective of the supply chain, the extremely simplified SKU represents relatively lower supply chain management difficulty and higher efficiency. It is for this reason that 18-dish restaurants can promote themselves as having daily fresh ingredients and stir-frying.

The Red Restaurant Network has noticed that 18-dish restaurants usually have open kitchens, where the head chef cooks and stir-fries the dishes on the spot, creating a bustling and lively atmosphere. Some restaurants directly display slogans such as "Chef's Stir-Fry, Rejecting Pre-made Dishes," while others showcase the ingredients and seasonings in transparent jars.

The catering industry has a saying, "The thinner the menu, the higher the profit." Proactively adopting a minimalist approach not only benefits standardized replication of stores, but also helps reduce costs and increase profit margins.

In fact, this minimalist model of streamlining SKUs is being favored by more and more brands.

For example, Xiabuxiabu advocates "quality over quantity," having streamlined over 100 products in their stores to 66, and now to just over 20.

Another example is the popular "signature dish" model in the Chinese fine dining sector, such as popular Hunan cuisine brands like Fei Kitchen and Xianglala, which focus on "signature dishes + Hunan-style stir-fry" as their product matrix, controlling SKUs to around 30-40. This approach improves production efficiency, thereby increasing store productivity and efficiency, finding a balance between "made-to-order" and "scaling up."

From a fundamental perspective, the "eighteen-dish" model and the "signature dish" model share similarities, both essentially focusing on popular items and streamlining dishes for the sake of standardization and scaling.

In the increasingly competitive catering industry, this minimalist model may become the choice for more catering brands.

Note: Yuan Bin, Wang Ze, and Zhang Qin are all pseudonyms; the cover image is from the interviewee.