Competition faced by Dicos

There are time-honored brands such as KFC, McDonald's and Burger King with international brands, Wallace with more than 10,000 stores with local brands, Happy Star and Kalezi, which originated in Shanghai, Wei Xiaobao, which specializes in fried chicken and hamburger takeout, and various scattered shops whose sinking market has not yet formed scale development.

A few years ago, Dicos failed in several strong attacks in the first-line market, and was awarded the market evaluation of "surviving in the cracks". Now everyone is more willing to associate Dicos with the young people in the town, which is quite a bit of a must. In fact, whether it is a first-tier city or a small town youth, this is not the positioning that Dicos has given itself. Dicos has never defined himself like this.

202 1 is the 25th anniversary of Dicos. On September 12, with the opening of Wutaishan store in Shanxi, Dicos, a western fast food chain brand, welcomed its 3000th store. At this point in time, Dicos put forward the brand 3.0 upgrade plan and the brand slogan of "wholeheartedly for you". While explaining the 3.0 plan, there are still many questions waiting for Dicos to answer: First-tier cities or sinking markets? Western fast food has lost its aura. What imagination does Dicos have? Can Dicos only survive in the cracks? New consumer brands emerge one after another, and all kinds of "remodeling" are dazzling. How does Dicos retain the loyalty of users?

Consumer oriented

All the above problems point to one direction: competition. However, the competition that Dicos values is different from the bustling competition in the industry seen by the external market analysis.

Therefore, the core of the 3.0 plan is to take consumers as the core. From products to services to terminals to ways of communicating with consumers, Dicos has to repeatedly verify whether to put consumers first.

In the interview, Shao Xinmou repeatedly stressed that Dicos' biggest challenge lies in itself: whether it can be accepted and recognized by consumers of every era.

Dicos does not choose between first-tier cities and sinking markets, because with the development of the times, consumers and consumption trends have evolved, and western-style fast food is no longer a scarce variety, nor is it as high as before. Shao Xinmou pointed out that western-style fast food has become an economical national food, and in the Internet age, the cognitive gap between western-style fast food brands in first-and second-tier cities and the sinking market has been greatly reduced.

Dismantling Dicos' 3.0 concept of "taking consumers as the core", Shao Xinmou pointed out that, first of all, under the premise of rapid development of supply chain, brands should use various means to integrate upstream supply chain more responsibly and bring products to consumers at more cost-effective prices. Secondly, we should develop products that satisfy consumers and provide services that satisfy consumers. Shao Xinmou said half jokingly, "Unlike clothes, you have to wash them 100 times to judge whether the fabric is good or not. Catering is a winning and losing business, and it is a process in which values such as taste and characteristics are immediately reflected. "

Furthermore, we must ensure the standard reduction. "The developed products can finally be 100% restored in every store." Shao Xinmou said that this is the biggest challenge. "Stores can restore products 100%, allowing consumers to buy back for the second and third time." Therefore, before the new Dicos products are rolled out in the whole country, they will be tested in some stores to test the degree of reduction that the products will face in a complex and changeable real environment, and then they will be constantly revised and adjusted.

Internal control management

There is also the embodiment of management ability behind this. Standardized management makes western-style fast food show stronger resistance in the face of sudden epidemic risk. According to "20021Development Report of Chain Catering Industry" issued by China Hotel Association, in the first quarter of 20021,the market share of Chinese fast food in the whole fast food exceeded 85%, while that of western fast food was less than 15%. However, in the first quarter of 20021compared with two years ago, the number of western fast food restaurants increased 19.6%, while the number of Chinese fast food restaurants decreased 10.3%. Moreover, at present, Chinese fast food only reaches about 50% of the level of 20 19, while the business situation of western fast food in the fourth quarter of 2020 increased by 38% compared with 20 19. The report pointed out that most western-style fast food enterprises have stronger ability to overcome the crisis because of their perfect operation mode.

The management of terminal stores is very important. Dicos divides the national market into 80 business divisions, and each business division is responsible for managing about 50 stores. Compared with the current catering industry, brands and distributors have a product buyout relationship, and distributors are responsible for the location and management of stores. All Dicos franchise stores are supervised and inspected by the headquarters.

"Any questions raised by consumers need the brand to pay the bill." Shao xinmou said. Among them, Shao Xinmou particularly emphasized Dicos' cultivation of store managers. "If there is no suitable manager, this store would rather not open." In Shao Xinmou's view, if a store is compared to a car, the manager can't meet the requirements, just like a driver without a driver's license driving on the road, so Dicos attaches importance to the cultivation and management of the manager.

Dicos stores upload a set of food safety test results required by headquarters to the cloud every day, which is part of Dicos' concept of "strong platform and heavy management". Shao Xinmou pointed out that the trust of consumers is very important. "Today, consumers come to the store to spend money, and some of them pay for their trust in you. If we don't have the ability to manage more stores, we won't rush to open stores, otherwise the stores that don't have the ability to manage will eventually bite the whole brand. " Shao Xinmou said this.

At present, it is often difficult for terminal stores to recruit workers, and it is also difficult to hire workers. Therefore, Dicos is also using scientific and technological means to improve management, such as introducing automatic supervision equipment to supervise food safety.

In addition to strengthening management, Dicos is also adjusting and optimizing the current store layout. Shao Xinmou said that it is normal for stores to open stores. The reason is that the location of the store remains the same, but the location of the business circle has been changing. Therefore, stores should be adjusted with the adjustment of business circle, especially under the premise that online take-out is popular now. Before, the layout of the store should also be optimized to ensure the temperature and freshness of the products when the takeaway is delivered to customers.

At present, the franchise ratio of Dicos stores has reached 85%. For the next pace of store expansion, Shao Xinmou pointed out that 400-500 stores will be added every year.

Receiving and "bureau"

Dicos originated in Texas in the south of the United States, and was acquired by Ding Xin Group in 1996, introducing crispy fried chicken. At that time, KFC had accumulated more than 65,438+000 stores in China. At the beginning, Dicos chose to enter the market, and started a hand-to-hand combat with KFC and McDonald's. The Group provided $50 million to support Dicos in confronting the two giants in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. However, due to the high cost, Dicos failed to tear a hole for its own survival in the above cities, so it chose to move to second-and third-tier cities.

Then in 2005, Dicos announced to join the first-line market again, and planned to open 60 stores in Beijing before 2008, but it didn't cause much trouble. Then, Dicos no longer attacked the front line in this radical way, but opened a low-key store. In the past year, Dicos opened nearly 500 new stores, and now it has exceeded 200 in the north, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Shao Xinmou does not shy away from the market evaluation of Dicos in several first-tier cities. He said, "It is undeniable that Dicos did experience some challenges in the development process, but now when we develop at a more stable pace, we look back and sum up that it is the recognition from consumers that has helped Dicos to stabilize its foundation."

Competition is inevitable, so is the comparison between friends and businessmen. By the end of 2020, Yum! There are more than 7,000 KFC restaurants and 3,700 McDonald's stores in China. In the face of peers like KFC and McDonald's, Shao Xinmou sees it this way. "Learning is not just competition." Shao Xinmou said that within the team, they often said that it was precisely because their peers opened a track similar to western-style fast food in China, which made the cake bigger, promoted the maturity of the market and improved the supporting industries. And there is no denying the achievements made by colleagues, so Dicos needs to learn, accumulate experience and constantly adjust itself.

Returning to the competition mentioned at the beginning of the article, Shao Xinmou concluded that Dicos is competing with consumer satisfaction. Shao Xinmou said that the supply chain level of western-style catering is actually mature enough, and the ability of major brands in resource integration is similar at present, so they will eventually return to the content of the brand itself.

"No matter how much volume and flow there is in marketing, the sales volume that can be brought in the end is the real thing." Shao Xinmou said this. Therefore, in the "game" chosen by Dicos, there is his past, present and future self, and he is examining whether every step he takes conforms to the consumer orientation.