"Gathering Strength for Mutual Benefit. The Fourth China Catering Brand Festival Concluded Successfully."

From September 23 to 26, the 4th China Catering Brand Festival (Hongcan · The 32nd HCC Catering Expo) was successfully held in Guangzhou, attracting more than 10,000 catering elites to the scene, generating a enthusiastic response.

This grand event, with the theme of "Gathering Forces for Common Good", was guided by the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, and jointly organized by the World Federation of Chinese Catering Industry, China National Radio Network, and Hongcan.com. It is committed to connecting the upstream and downstream of the catering industry, promoting the harmonious development of the catering ecosystem, and driving the common progress of the industry.

The conference carefully set up several important sections, including the 2024 Catering Brand Power Summit, thematic forums, special salons, awards ceremonies, HCC Catering Exhibition, food ingredient launches, and the "Face-to-Face with Influencers" exclusive interviews. It brought together industry experts and heavyweights to interact deeply with catering industry chain entrepreneurs and managers, explore new directions for breaking through and developing, and empower catering practitioners.

Hundred Industry Leaders Gather for Closed-door Discussion on Brand Growth Strategies

On September 23, at the "Closed-door Strategy Meeting for Catering Leaders", Zhang Yun, a globally renowned strategic expert, Chen Zhiqiang, an expert in ten-thousand-store chain operations, and 100 leaders of outstanding catering chain enterprises had in-depth sharing and exchanges, combining practical combat experience to assist catering enterprises in responding to challenges.

Zhang Yun believes that currently, Chinese catering enterprises have two major strategic growth opportunities - the opportunity to build global catering brands and the opportunity to create a new category of "healthy and delicious" catering. Next, Chinese catering enterprises can seek growth opportunities through creating new categories, enhancing brand awareness, and expanding store numbers.

Chen Zhiqiang shared the experience of building a ten-thousand-store catering brand and proposed the "Five Bests" and "Eight Effects" champion model. The "Five Bests" refer to the most popular product, the most popular store, the most store openings, the best supply chain, and the strongest headquarters. The "Eight Effects" are product efficiency, time efficiency, customer efficiency, human efficiency, floor efficiency, store efficiency, density efficiency, and chain efficiency.

Industry Experts Gather to Explore New Trends in the Catering Industry

During the main forum of the "4th China Catering Brand Festival" from September 24 to 26, globally renowned strategic expert Zhang Yun, Jia Guolong, Chairman of Xibei Catering, Li Hong, Chairman of Country Style Cooking, Ma Ruiguang, Founder of Yima Chain, Shao Xinmou, CEO of Tingqiao Catering Group, and other industry experts took turns to appear and shared their insights on topics such as the future trends of the catering industry and brand building.

Globally renowned strategic expert Zhang Yun

Zhang Yun stated that many categories in the Chinese market have reached a saturation point, while the overseas market is still a blue ocean, which is twice the size of the Chinese market. Whether it is a leading domestic brand or a small brand just starting out, they should turn their attention to the global market.

Jia Guolong, Chairman of Xibei Catering

Jia Guolong pointed out that the crisis has arrived, but no matter how big the crisis is, as long as one returns to the front line, one can definitely find a solution. Catering enterprises should diligently practice basic skills. Brands and enterprises that are eliminated ultimately lack refined craftsmanship and solid basic skills.

Li Hong, Chairman of Country Style Cooking

Li Hong stated that Country Style Cooking insists on freshly cooked dishes and refuses pre-made ones. In order to achieve freshly cooked dishes, in the early stage of establishment, Country Style Cooking created a transparent kitchen in the store. This year, they went even further by closing the central factory in Chongqing and insisting on freshly cooking in the stores.

Ma Ruiguang, Doctor of Economics from the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Founder of Yima Chain

Ma Ruiguang stated that the chain rate of China's catering industry in 2023 is approximately 21%, and it is expected to reach 25% this year. In the future, the chain rate of China's catering industry will continue to increase. Currently, the chain rate of various segmented categories in China's catering industry is increasing at a rate of 3% per year.

Shao Xinmou, CEO of Tingqiao Catering Group

Shao Xinmou analyzed how to build the core competitiveness of catering stores and put forward six suggestions for catering enterprises: In terms of joining business partners, it is necessary to find the right people; Make good core products; Do a good job in brand marketing; Do a good job in member operations, from the aspects of public domain and private domain, to attract new customers, increase frequency, and repeat purchases, to bring customers back to the store; Use digitalization to optimize processes and promote the digital operation of enterprises; Through platform support and an efficient and collaborative system productivity, promote the all-round business upgrade of enterprises.

In addition to keynote speeches, the main forum also set up several roundtable forums and debates, from "How Catering Enterprises Should Respond in the New Environment" to "How to Build Competitiveness for Category Benchmark Brands", to "How Catering Enterprises and Supply Chains Can Collaborate and Innovate" and "Should the Catering Industry Follow the Low-Price Trend". Many industry experts had in-depth and enthusiastic conversations, also bringing new ideas for the operation and development of catering practitioners.

Release of the "2024 China Catering Brand Power White Paper"

At the main forum of the "4th China Catering Brand Festival", the "2024 China Catering Brand Power White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper") was also released.

The "White Paper" analyzed the changes in the development pattern of China's catering brands from multiple dimensions and judged the future trends of the catering industry, which has important reference value for catering enterprise managers.

Fan Ning, Co-founder and Vice President of Hongcan.com, conducted an in-depth interpretation of the white paper.

Fan Ning, Co-founder and Vice President of Hongcan.com

Fan Ning stated that currently, the growth rate of catering revenue has dropped to the "lowest in ten years", and the market competition is becoming increasingly fierce. At the same time, the fierce competition is accelerating the industry reshuffle. In the first eight months, the number of catering-related enterprises that were cancelled or deregistered exceeded 90% of the entire year of 2023.

Fan Ning also shared three development trends in China's catering market that are worthy of attention: First, as the competition in the domestic catering market becomes increasingly fierce, going global has become a "must-choice" for many catering brands, and the form of going global will also shift from export to global production.

Second, more and more catering brands are attaching importance to the proportion of beverages in the menu, and the consumption trend of integrating food and drinks is becoming more and more obvious.

Third, various categories and business forms in the catering industry are penetrating each other, and the catering industry is showing a trend of great integration.

6 Thematic Forums, Insights into Multiple Subdivided Tracks in the Catering Industry

The "2024 4th China Catering Brand Festival" also delved into multiple subdivided tracks in the catering industry. From September 24 to 26, six thematic forums were held in three days. Industry experts had in-depth discussions on hot topics in six major fields including IP traffic, benchmark brands, barbecue, brand recruitment, going global, and food ingredients.

For example, on topics such as how to empower the catering industry with IP traffic, how catering brands can move from the regional market to the national market, how barbecue brands can get rid of homogeneous competition, the opportunities and challenges of catering internationalization, how entrepreneurs in the brand recruitment era can select brands that suit them, and catering food ingredients and dish innovation, guests analyzed the pain points and difficulties in their own operations from practical experience and shared the new trends emerging in the industry.

During the six thematic forums, four industry reports were also released simultaneously, including the "2024 Research Report on Catering IP Traffic", "2024 Development Report on Barbecue Categories", "2024 Development Report on Catering Brand Recruitment", and "2024 Development Report on Catering Going Global". These reports investigated the development status of multiple subdivided tracks in the catering industry, providing an important reference for catering entrepreneurs, managers, and related investors to understand the industry ecosystem.

5 Special Salons to Help Catering Enterprises Stimulate Organizational Vitality

With the increase in the chain rate of the catering industry, how to improve organizational strength and efficiency has become a common concern for catering practitioners.

The "2024 4th China Catering Brand Festival" also delved into aspects such as catering chain operation, standardization, branding, digitalization, and technological innovation. From September 24 to 26, five special salons were held, including "Three Systems in One to Activate the Organization", "Improving Catering Efficiency", "Professional Franchisees", "Chain Multiplication Strategy", and "Setting Plans for Bosses and Stabilizing Brands".

Many industry elites, including well-known catering brand founders, investors, industry chain professionals, and industry experts, carried out diverse and in-depth dialogues and exchanges and viewpoints collisions. This not only brought new ideas for improving the organizational strength and efficiency of catering enterprises but also provided a new perspective for the reform and innovation of the catering industry.

The Sixth China Catering Red Eagle Award Officially Unveiled

On the afternoon of September 26, after nearly three months of strict screening, the three major awards of the sixth "China Catering Red Eagle Award" - "Top 100 Catering Brand Power in 2024", "Regional Benchmark Catering Brand in 2024", and "Catering Brand with Commercial Value in 2024" were officially announced. A total of 400 outstanding catering brands received the honors.

The release of this list has discovered a group of outstanding catering brands. By commending the exemplary power, it inspires more enterprises to develop and progress together, promoting the high-quality development of the catering industry.

HCC Catering Expo, Promoting Efficient Docking between Upstream and Downstream Enterprises in the Catering Industry

From September 24 to 26, as an important section of the （