People have to wait in line for an hour to get the bread, and the purchasing agent service fee is even more expensive than the bread itself. Who has made this "salt bread" specialty store so wildly popular?

Is salt bread going to become the next breakout hit product?

"It's extremely popular. Never come on weekends, and each customer is limited to purchasing 5 pieces..."

"There are huge crowds even on workdays. I went there to buy at 11 a.m., and all the popular breads were already sold out."

Recently, a local bakery brand in Guangzhou named "Salt Scallion Head" has gone viral. On social platforms, posts discouraging visits and check-in posts of this store appear very frequently, which instead arouses more people's curiosity to flock to this store.

Against the backdrop of intensifying involution in the baking track where everyone says business is hard to run, Salt Scallion Head opened its first store last September and launched its second store in May this year. Two months later, the winding queue in front of the store shows no sign of shortening.

What makes it so outstanding?

△ Image source: photographed by Redcayen

Per capita consumption over 20 yuan, a new bread store in Guangzhou becomes a new queue sensation

"I queued for an hour, and could only buy the remaining non-popular breads."

Discussions about queuing at Salt Scallion Head are still fermenting on major social platforms. Some netizens shared that even if they queue up half an hour early in the morning, the signature fresh milk cream sea salt rolls and master butter sea salt rolls are often sold out. Queuing takes at least half an hour on workdays, and even longer on weekends.

Redcayen visited the Salt Scallion Head store at Wanlinghui around 5 p.m. on a workday. Before getting close to the store, we could see the queue stretching out from the entrance. Moving closer, we found that the purchase entrance had been closed - all breads for the day had been sold out, and no more would be baked that day.

△ Image source: photographed by Redcayen

According to the store staff, long queues have already formed when the store opens at 10 a.m. every day. During the day, the back kitchen will arrange the baking schedule according to the actual situation. To ensure product quality, the number of breads made every day is limited, and sales stop once they are sold out.

Different from the general large and all-inclusive bakeries, "Salt Scallion Head" focuses on the single product of sea salt rolls, which is also known as salt bread in the industry. The so-called salt bread is a type of Japanese-style bread made by wrapping butter in the dough, adding sea salt and then baking. It tastes crispy at the bottom, soft inside, with the salty aroma of butter and sea salt.

At present, Salt Scallion Head's operation strategies mainly include several points: First, product extension. Based on the traditional salt bread, it has launched more than 20 flavors such as matcha cream, French lemon white chocolate, and mentaiko. In addition to salt bread, the store also sells baked products such as baguettes, toast and cookies, as well as specialty coffee and cake desserts, with a rich variety of SKUs. Second, limited supply, all products are sold out once they are gone every day. Third, chef endorsement. According to the brand founder, the chef of Salt Scallion Head has more than ten years of experience in five-star hotels, and used to be the pastry chef of Mandarin Oriental and Four Seasons Hotels.

In terms of pricing, most breads of Salt Scallion Head are priced between 12 and 22 yuan. The master butter sea salt roll is 12 yuan each, and the most expensive strawberry pistachio crispy sea salt roll is sold at 22 yuan each.

The store is mainly decorated in white and wood tone, with an open kitchen. Through the glass, you can see more than 10 staff members in the back kitchen responsible for kneading dough, shaping, baking and other work, so consumers can directly see the whole production process of bread.

△ Image source: photographed by Redcayen

Compared with the K11 store, the Wanlinghui store has added light meals, providing sourdough bread, light food, pasta, salads and other products, trying to cover more consumption scenarios. Redcayen saw at the scene that there were many tables for 2 to 3 people in the light meal area, which were almost fully occupied in the afternoon on workdays. However, the light meal area is separated from the bread purchase area, you still need to queue separately to buy salt bread.

On social platforms, queuing proxy and purchasing proxy services have appeared, with service fees ranging from 30 to 80 yuan, which is far higher than the price of the bread itself.

It is worth mentioning that the Salt Scallion Head Wanlinghui store is surrounded by many bakery brands such as Paperstone, AKAK and Cloudunt, with very fierce competition. It is not easy for Salt Scallion Head to continuously attract consumers to queue for a long time.

The scarcity effect brought by limited release, and the traffic brought by the recent visit of the food blogger "Big Cousin" have all pushed up the current queuing popularity of Salt Scallion Head. According to Qichacha, the actual controller of Salt Scallion Head is Xu Shilei, who is the executive director and general manager of the new tea brand Chaleelee. This also gives the market more imagination about the brand operation capability and subsequent expansion of Salt Scallion Head.

△ Image source: screenshot from the official Xiaohongshu account of Salt Scallion Head

However, the life cycle of internet-famous bakeries is generally not long - many brands have experienced the trajectory of "peak at opening, falling into calm after half a year". Whether Salt Scallion Head can maintain its popularity continuously remains to be seen.

But jumping out of the perspective of a single brand, a more noteworthy question is: How is the salt bread category developing now?

Is the salt bread business booming?

If we shift our focus from Guangzhou, we will find that this trend has also spread to many cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Jiangsu, and a number of specialty stores focusing on salt bread are on the rise.

Take SOSO Salt Bread as an example. According to its official mini-program, this community bakery has opened 5 stores in Shanghai. Its product line mainly focuses on flavor innovation of salt bread, and has launched a softer soft salt series. The classic salt bread is priced at about 8-12 yuan, and flavors such as black truffle and ham cheese are priced in the range of 12-20 yuan. According to netizens, you also need to queue up at the store during peak hours on weekends.

△ Image source: official Xiaohongshu account of SOSO Salt Bread

Shiopon Salt Bread, also located in Shanghai, has opened two local stores, and new enclosure information has appeared on social platforms recently. Shiopon focuses on butter salt bread, claiming to restore the fresh aroma of wheat and the salty aroma of sea salt, with more distinctive shapes and flavors. For example, litsea cubeba beef butter salt bread, earl citrus cream butter salt bread and other products are very popular, with product pricing ranging from 12 to 18 yuan.

In addition, "Baker's Farm" in Beijing also focuses on sea salt rolls with more innovative flavors, launching prickly ash leaf salt rolls, rolling donkey bean milk salt rolls and other products, priced at 18-27 yuan. Anso-Fresh Baked Bread is a local bakery brand in Nanjing, which promotes various salt breads such as Calpis soft salt bread and pistachio soft salt bread, with about 18 SKUs and a per capita consumption of 6-15 yuan. Both brands currently only have one local store, but they enjoy high online discussion popularity and offline foot traffic. The former ranks first in the positive review list of bread, cake and dessert stores in Beixinqiao area.

If we broaden our horizons, we will find that the popularity of salt bread is not an isolated phenomenon, the entire baking circle is setting off a "salty trend".

BUTTERFUL&CREAMOROUS launched a large number of salt breads of various flavors in the second half of last year. Holiland launched a variety of salty savory breads this year. The specialty coffee brand JPG coffee also launched salty milk tea toast to pair with coffee. The presence of salty bread is visibly increasing.

△ Image source: official Xiaohongshu account of BUTTERFUL&CREAMOROUS

Salt bread is a very representative product in this "salty trend".

First of all, salt bread caters to the trend of "low sugar". The high sugar and high oil content of traditional bread makes more and more consumers hesitate to buy, while salt bread naturally brings the psychological hint of "less sweet and greasy, lighter burden". More importantly, most of these specialty stores will emphasize the use of imported butter, high-quality flour and sea salt, trying to form differentiation with ordinary chain bakeries.

Secondly, the slightly salty flavor of salt bread also brings more freshness to consumers. Coupled with the crispy crust and chewy inner texture, it has become the favorite of many bread lovers.

In addition, salt bread is suitable for a wide range of scenarios with moderate portion. It can be not only a portable breakfast, but also an afternoon tea paired with coffee, or even a simple light lunch. This all-day attribute increases its consumption frequency.

△ Image source: official Xiaohongshu account of Shiopon Salt Bread

However, this business is still in the early stage of development, starting first in high-tier cities. These specialty stores have accumulated a stable customer base through relatively focused SKUs. In terms of pricing, they are higher than chain bakeries, mostly in the range of 10-25 yuan.

Whether salt bread can become the next breakout hit in the baking industry, and even give birth to a national chain brand? It may still be too early to draw a conclusion now.

However, if you pass by Wanlinghui in Guangzhou on a weekend evening and see the long queue still stretching in front of Salt Scallion Head, you will probably agree that there is enough room for imagination in this track.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Redcayen", Author: Qian Jun, Editor: Fang Yuan, published with authorization from 36Kr.