Save 12,000 yuan in labor costs per month! "Ward Commune" aims to free cake decorating from the "dependence on manual craftsmanship".

 The Dilemma of Cake Decorating in Baking Stores 

The domestic baking industry has long been constrained by its reliance on manual labor in the cake decorating process. Cake decorating is one of the most technically demanding procedures in cake production. Mature cake decorators require a long training period and command high salaries (generally ranging from 7,000 to 12,000 RMB). Labor costs generally account for more than 10%-15% of the total operating costs of stores, significantly raising the threshold for opening new stores. At the same time, manual cake decorating relies on personal skills and is difficult to standardize for replication, which restricts the expansion of chain brands. Limited by back-kitchen space and display cabinets, a single store can only display a limited number of cake styles, leading to severe product homogenization, and most stores are trapped in cut-throat price competition. 

In terms of market size, the current domestic baked food market in China is approximately 300 billion RMB, with an annual growth rate maintained at 7% to 9%. The growth rate in lower-tier markets reaches 15%, which is the core driving force for the industry's growth and also the region with the greatest potential for chain consolidation. For entrepreneurs who want to open stores in lower-tier markets, equipment investment and labor costs constitute the main entry barriers. 

Patented Equipment Builds Cost and Differentiation Advantages 

The core starting point of "Wode Commune" is the six-axis robotic arm cake decorating machine independently designed by its founder. The technology was filed for patent application in 2016 and granted the national invention patent in 2018. The company also applied for two trademarks "Multi-dimensional Commune" and "Wode Commune" in 2015. Beijing Wode Mark Marketing Development Co., Ltd. was founded in 2010, and its previous experience in channels and retail operations has laid a solid foundation for store operation.

 Based on this patented equipment, "Wode Commune" has developed differentiated capabilities in both cost and product dimensions. On the cost side, replacing manual cake decorating with robotic arms can save 8,000 to 12,000 RMB per month in cake decorator labor costs for a single store, directly optimizing the profit model of each store. On the product side, the equipment can realize "identical products across thousands of stores" by transmitting decorating codes over the network, meeting the standardized replication needs of chain operations. The "identical products across thousands of stores" model can reduce procurement costs. Meanwhile, the robotic arm can produce special decorating styles that are difficult for manual workers to make, helping stores avoid homogenized price wars and gain profit margins through product premium. The combination of labor cost saving and cost reduction brought by the "identical products across thousands of stores" model is impossible for ordinary stores to achieve. 

Multi-business Closed Loop and Financing Plan 

In terms of business model, "Wode Commune" breaks away from the traditional logic that baking stores only sell self-operated products. Centered on its self-developed patented automatic cake decorating equipment, the project builds its own chain baking store system, gradually integrates offline agricultural product supply and marketing resources, and builds a production-supply-marketing closed loop of "consumers + commune stores + Internet + agricultural product supply and marketing cooperatives + community group buying". In addition to baked cake products, the stores also operate community group buying businesses, adding new customer acquisition entrances and profit sources for the stores. The profit model covers multiple dimensions including supplier commissions, membership fees, patent licensing fees and franchise fees, with membership operation running through the whole process, providing a stable foundation for repurchases for the stores.

 In terms of the team, founder Sun Jieping has nearly ten years of experience in distributing health products in supermarket channels, and is familiar with the sales strategies and market promotion logic of offline retail. At the same time, the founder combined his own sales experience to develop a small program for discount promotions with AI, ensuring more consumers come back to the store for repeat purchases. Moreover, "Wode Commune" is not just an offline cake chain brand, it will also carry out online layout. The project has never been involved in financing before, and this is its first public launch of equity financing. According to the plan, the founder intends to complete fund-raising in three rounds: the current round of 8 million RMB will be used for equipment R&D and model store construction, and the subsequent planned fundraising of 80 million RMB will be used for expanding directly-operated stores, and finally gradually complete the layout of "thousands of stores in thousands of cities", online and offline integration, and community group buying. 

Sun Jieping said that the original intention of the project is to provide a small business opportunity for "Beijing drifters" and young people in small towns that they can bring back to their hometowns, so that they can live and work in peace and contentment without leaving their hometowns. In his view, "Wode Commune" relies on its exclusive patented automatic equipment to reduce costs and improve efficiency, and opens up differentiated competition space through a multi-dimensional business model. In the future, it will take root in lower-tier markets, rely on a stable agricultural product supply chain to meet the daily needs of consumers, and drive more young people in small towns to find employment near their homes. 

Overall, there is still huge room for consolidation in the domestic lower-tier baking market, and automation replacing manual labor is an irreversible development trend of the industry. Brands that have both cost advantages and differentiated business models are expected to tap new growth space in lower-tier markets.