A new "cross-border" catering business has emerged in Huzhou, Zhejiang, and young people have set off a consumption boom

China News Service, Huzhou, September 10 (Huang Yanjun, Wang Jiehan) The "Beautiful Rice" restaurant sells "one-yuan fried", the old pharmacy sells herbal milk tea, and the noodle shop offers coffee and afternoon tea... Recently in Huzhou, Zhejiang, a group of new "cross-border" catering businesses have quickly captured the hearts of young people with their contrasting experiences.

Why can "cross-border" catering set off a consumption boom? Behind it is the business practice of transforming in line with the needs of the people.

At 8:30 pm, on Tiansheng Street in Huzhou, there was still a long queue at the fried pancake stall in front of the "MOOD BAR" Western Restaurant.

"The stall is opened at around 6:30 in the morning and around 8:00 in the evening. Before that, many preparations such as flour fermentation and stuffing must be done in advance." The "post-00s" shop owner Xin Jiechang said while guarding the stove. The pan-fried pan-fried food uses a secondary fermentation process and has a softer texture. The meat is made from pig front legs, and only sugar, salt and other seasonings are added. The price is RMB 1 each, and the average daily sales can reach 7,000.

In Huzhou, Zhejiang, a Western-style restaurant launched a "creative drink + fried" combination. Huzhou News Media Center

Ms. Qian, a customer who just got the fried dumplings, said that what attracted her was, on the one hand, the grass planting posts on the Internet, and on the other hand, the unique atmosphere of being able to sit down and eat in a fine restaurant after buying the fried dumplings. "Where can I get pancakes paired with cocktails? It's like the 'Michelin' of pancakes." Citizen Liu Jun joked at the side.

While new business formats attract customers with their "sense of contrast", some traditional stores have also become more fashionable.

Chai Jianqiang, the person in charge of "Sangu Yuelao" Huzhou Noodle House, noticed that today's consumers are no longer satisfied with "eating full", but pursue "eating to feel" and "eating to feel the atmosphere". In particular, young people are willing to make a special trip to restaurants with a good environment, where they can take photos and socialize.

Therefore, when choosing the location for the new store, he took a fancy to a Jiangnan courtyard and put great effort into creating an elegant Chinese-style space with indoor water features, landscape courtyards and multiple lights and shadows. The menu also gradually added tea drinks. "I want to create more than just a bowl of noodles, but also a place where customers are willing to sit down and stay for a long time." Chai Jianqiang said that the noodle shop business is better than expected.

Clothes Street is also performing a "cross-border" show. "Shen Tiancheng Tang", a traditional Chinese medicine center founded in 1877, has launched a herbal tea area, integrating five-finger peach, dandelion, poria and other herbal medicines into tea drinks.

"Young people no longer think that 'drinking something with the flavor of Chinese medicine' is old-fashioned. Instead, they think that holding a cup of herbal tea is a more disciplined and oriental lifestyle." Guo Huagang, the person in charge of the store, said that the sales of more than 100 cups a day prove that this road is feasible.

People line up to buy herbal tea in Huzhou, Zhejiang. Photo courtesy of Huzhou News Media Center

The booming development of "cross-border" catering has accurately met the needs of young people who pursue novel experiences and focus on social sharing. But it’s easy to become popular temporarily, but how to maintain “long-term popularity”?

Xin Jiechang believes that the traffic will eventually pass, and the most important thing is to control the quality of the ingredients. At present, he also plans to launch a limited breakfast with coffee and fried pancakes, and explore a late-night snack combination of cocktails with pancakes, etc. to create a diversified development matrix.

"This is not only the business experience of a few stores, but also a fresh sample of the consumption vitality of a city." Dr. Tang Yinghui from the School of Economics and Management of Huzhou Normal University said that "cross-border" behavior creates a new stimulus point for a city that is "worthy of a special trip." This innovative energy that dares to think and try is a scarce resource in the market.

She analyzed that what consumers buy is not a bowl of noodles or a cup of milk tea, but a "self-narrative that can be posted on Moments." This is the upgrade of consumption from "eating full" to "eating experience". Behind it is the joint force of experience economy, symbolic consumption and scene theory.

Looking across the country, the "Internet celebrity" catering trend has gone through several rounds of iterations, and the pattern is becoming increasingly clear: the half-life of the trend is shortening, and the "ebbing tide" of internet celebrity catering without the support of product strength and repurchase is as alarming as the "rising tide".

Tang Yinghui reminded that the average life cycle of Internet celebrity restaurants is about 32 months. To go far, we must turn "novelty hunting" into a "ritual" based on long-termism, turn check-in customers into regular customers, combine local cultural symbols, and maintain the bottom line of food safety and clearly marked prices.

After all, "Internet celebrity" is the "ticket" for the attention economy, and "long-term popularity" is the core password of the experience economy and productism.