A new emerging opportunity in the catering industry? Brands including CHAGEE and Laoxiangji are all ramping up their efforts to develop business targeting this group of people.

From simply "riding the hype" to becoming an important sponsor, the once-overlooked "ticket stub economy" has begun to win increasing favor among catering brands.

In the just-concluded October, sports events including the Shanghai Masters, China Open, and WTT China Grand Slam were held one after another across China. Off the court, catering brands such as Linyu Fried Chicken, Ba Wang Cha Ji, and Laoxiangji successfully gained widespread popularity by seizing the traffic of event audiences. Previously, brands including Haidilao, Xunxiangji, and Juancha also took advantage of the traffic brought by exhibitions, sports events and concerts, and achieved equally good results.

Deploying the ticket stub economy is becoming a common solution for numerous catering brands to capture consumers in the past two years.

Endorsed by a host of cultural and sports stars such as Zheng Qinwen and Xu Liang! Chain catering enterprises find a new solution for growth

Data from the China Performance Industry Association shows that in 2025, large-scale commercial performances with more than 5,000 attendees across the country directly drove consumption of over 220 billion yuan in addition to box office revenue. The consumption-driving effect of sports events is equally considerable. For example, for this year's China Open, according to the "Double Olympics 100" event evaluation data from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports, this event generated a direct economic impact of 2.59 billion yuan and an indirect economic impact of 6.671 billion yuan.

According to the observation of Hongcan.com, in the past two years, the ticket stub economy has continuously released consumption vitality, and a large number of catering brands have followed the trend to make layouts.

For example, Linyu Fried Chicken delivered an excellent market performance at the Shanghai Masters held in October this year. While gaining sufficient brand exposure, it is understood that Linyu Fried Chicken, as the designated sponsor of the Shanghai Masters, also set up a pop-up store at the event site. Data shows that the pop-up store received more than 14,000 visitors in 14 days, consuming over 65,000 fried chicken legs in total, equivalent to 7.2 tons.

△ Image source: Linyu Fried Chicken

Ba Wang Cha Ji is another brand that rose to fame through tennis events. On October 11, after Zheng Qinwen won the women's singles title at the China Open, Ba Wang Cha Ji launched a limited-time buy-one-get-one-free promotion across all product categories to celebrate the championship. Hongcan.com noticed that as soon as the activity was launched, it attracted a large number of fans to place orders, with the order backlog in some Ba Wang Cha Ji stores reaching more than 500 orders. According to The Cover News, as the number of orders far exceeded expectations, Ba Wang Cha Ji issued an internal thank-you letter to all stores across the country on October 12, recognizing the high-intensity efforts of store partners in this activity, and also announced the distribution of a total of 13.5 million yuan in special rewards.

△ Image source: Screenshot of Ba Wang Cha Ji Mini Program

In addition, Laoxiangji is also making layouts in the ticket stub economy. After making its debut as the designated supplier at the Shanghai Masters last year, Laoxiangji upgraded its status this year to become the designated sponsor of the event. According to reports from Yicai, this year Laoxiangji set up 6 service booths in the core moving line area for spectators at the stadium, with sales volume increasing by about 10% year-on-year. In addition, to extend the event experience to the daily urban consumption scenarios, Laoxiangji has also launched 3 tennis-themed stores in Shanghai, which have attracted many fans to check in.

△ Image source: Screenshot of Laoxiangji's official Xiaohongshu account

Many regional catering players, even small catering shops, have also reaped the traffic dividends of the ticket stub economy.

For example, Xunxiangji, a Hunan cuisine brand in Shanghai, created a limited-edition "Lady Xin Zhui Family Feast" set meal for four people themed around the "Marquis of Haihun" exhibition in Shanghai this year, restoring Han Dynasty specialties such as lotus root soup based on archaeological historical records. According to Jiefang Daily, one month after the set meal was launched, 1,500 copies were sold only through the two online channels of Douyin and Dianping, with the overall sales approaching 500,000 yuan.

△ Image source: Screenshot of Xunxiangji's official WeChat account

Juancha, a local tea drink brand in Henan, also took the express train of ticket stub economy traffic and achieved increased sales. It is understood that in May this year, Juancha joined the ticket stub alliance organized by Zhengzhou Zhongyuan District for Silence Wang's concert. At that time, 6 Juancha stores launched exclusive fan set meals and themed check-in activities, driving a 50% year-on-year increase in both passenger flow and revenue.

△ Image source: Screenshot from Xiaohongshu

In addition, in October this year, the topic "Xu Liang's concert saved a bakery on the verge of closure" attracted widespread attention. It is understood that for the Beijing stop of singer Xu Liang's "Time Folding" tour concert this year, the order for the caterpillar bread as a souvenir was given to a bakery that was operating with difficulties and planned to shut down its equipment. After receiving the order, the factory recalled workers to return to work overnight, the production line that had been shut down for half a month resumed operation, and subsequent orders have been scheduled for the next month.

△ Image source: Screenshot from Xiaohongshu

From national chain brands to regional local brands and even small catering shops, it is not difficult to see that leveraging the ticket stub economy to drive new revenue growth is becoming a consensus in the current catering industry.

Catering business that follows the flow of event audiences! Traffic comes fast, but how to retain customers?

It needs to be emphasized that small catering shops turning around through the ticket stub economy and ushering in a traffic explosion are extreme individual cases. However, the traffic dividends contained in it still cannot be ignored by the current catering industry, after all, where the people are, there the business is.

In the view of Hongcan.com, although the ticket stub economy can bring a large number of floating customers, such groups of customers tend not to spontaneously favor a certain catering brand when choosing where to eat. Therefore, for catering brands, to seize this part of floating customers, efforts need to be made in many aspects.

The core of which is the conversion of passenger flow. To better convert this group of floating customers, it is very critical to integrate products and services into the consumption itinerary of floating customers. On the one hand, whether floating customers choose to dine in the store is restricted by factors such as transportation and schedule of sports events and performances, and whether the services of catering brands can solve these itinerary pain points also affects the conversion effect of floating passenger flow.

In fact, many catering brands have made advance layouts for this group of floating customers long ago. After the Wuhan stop of Xu Song's 2026 "Anbo Guess" tour concert ended in August this year, shuttle fleets of merchants including Ba Nu, Haidilao and Feifei Xiazhuang had already lined up to attract a large number of event audiences to dine in their stores. At that time, the store manager of Haidilao Aeon Mall Jingkai Store in Wuhan told Changjiang Daily: "There are not so many guests in the early morning on ordinary days, and the turnover will double on the day of a concert."

△ Image source: Haidilao Zhishiju WeChat Official Account

In addition to designing passenger flow conversion well, in the face of this group of floating people, catering brands also need to break away from the simple profit concession mindset to avoid falling into the discount trap.

For example, catering stores can launch characteristic set meals, combine them well with scenario experience, put more effort into providing emotional value, and at the same time make advance plans for manpower and meal delivery to prevent excessive passenger flow from damaging consumption experience.

It is worth mentioning that the business logic of receiving floating consumers is different from that of ordinary shopping mall stores and community stores, and different operation modes lead to different thresholds and cost control requirements.

Hongcan.com believes that catering brands should enter this field rationally in combination with their own store capacity, budget and positioning. In addition, the passenger flow brought by the ticket stub economy comes quickly and recedes quickly. Short-term conversion does not equal long-term growth. While seizing instant traffic, catering brands still need to polish their products and experience to consolidate the foundation for long-term development.

Overall, the ticket stub economy has opened up channels for catering brands to reach new customer groups, but it also puts forward higher requirements for the operation thinking and implementation capabilities of catering brands.

This article is from the WeChat Official Account "Hongcan.com", written by Hongcan Editorial Department, and published with authorization by 36Kr.