Practice of Community Canteen in Chengdu
Operating status:
There are about 500 existing community canteens.
Most street offices or communities provide places, reduce rents, and then introduce market entities to operate.
Meal fee standard: 10 ~ 20 yuan.
Explore the case:
■ Chain community canteens (8 stores have been opened and 3 stores are under construction);
The canteen is only a service point of the company, and it is more to provide various services to residents, such as laundry, escort, setting up universities for the elderly, community activities and so on.
■ Longevity canteen:
Serve 20,000 to 30,000 people, invite enterprises to open product fairs in the canteen, etc., and make the community canteen a link between enterprises and users.
Recently, the semi-monthly report on the difficulties in the continuous operation of community canteens has sparked heated discussions. The report pointed out that community canteens are currently facing many problems, such as high operating pressure, difficult to adjust, and residents are worried about food safety. At the same time, it was mentioned that the existing community canteens were suspended due to the inability to recover costs. Under the heated discussion, the remark that "the closing tide of community canteens is coming" is frequently mentioned.
What is the management status of community canteens in Chengdu? Are you facing the above problems and what measures have you taken? Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star journalists visited and investigated a number of community canteens and related departments and learned that there are about 500 existing community canteens in Chengdu, mainly in the central city. The establishment of community canteens is mostly provided by street offices or communities, and the rent is reduced or exempted, and then the market entities are introduced to operate. At present, the operation is also under certain pressure.
"The key to doing a good job in community canteens is to realize that they are part of community grass-roots governance and cannot be simply an old people’s canteen. Community canteens are a carrier for urban and rural community development and governance to enrich residents’ life service system." Zhang Haibo, secretary general of Chengdu Urban and Rural Community Development Governance Promotion Association, said.
survey
Under heated discussion
The continuous operation of community canteens is troubled.
Recently, the semi-monthly talk released a report entitled "Community Canteen: Continuous Operation is Troubled". The report pointed out that the community canteens, which were popular all over the network since November last year, have now encountered operational difficulties, mainly as follows: the site cost has caused great pressure on the operation of community canteens; It is difficult to adjust and weigh; Some residents are worried about food safety.
In October 2022, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Ministry of Civil Affairs jointly issued the Notice on Carrying out the Pilot Work of Complete Community Construction (hereinafter referred to as the Notice). The notice mentioned that starting from October 2022, the pilot community will be equipped with convenient commercial service facilities such as canteens and domestic service outlets. Subsequently, a number of community canteens were opened nationwide, and the video of the opening of a community canteen in Fengqing, Yunnan Province was also posted on the hot search.
At the same time, the sound of "the closing tide of the first batch of community canteens is coming" has caused widespread discussion. "Community canteens violate the laws of the market", "The price of dishes is low but the cost is too high" and "It doesn’t conform to the modern catering trend" … … Numerous statements have also been repeatedly mentioned.
Under the heated discussion, does the operation of community canteens in Chengdu also face the above problems? Recently, a reporter from Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star visited many community canteens in Chengdu.
A number of interviewees said that several community canteens in Chengdu had operated before the above notice. According to public reports, with the increasing aging, the elderly who live alone, live in empty nests, have difficulty in moving or living, and the elderly whose children have no time to take care of them, the demand for community-based care services is also increasing, and the problem of eating for the elderly has attracted attention. In the past five or six years, community canteens have been introduced in many areas of Chengdu, and most of them are opened by street offices or communities to provide places, reduce rents and introduce market players to operate.
Yuan Xiaoran, secretary general of Chengdu Catering Trade Association, said that according to incomplete statistics, there were more than 800 community canteens in Chengdu during the peak period. "Affected by many factors such as the epidemic situation and poor management, there are still about 500 companies operating." Yuan Xiaoran introduced that these canteens are mainly in the central city, and some operations also have some pressure.
According to the reporter’s visit, at present, the charging standard of community canteens in Chengdu is generally 10 ~ 20 yuan, but the passenger flow is different.
The meal price in the community canteen of Laoma Road in Wuhou District is calculated on the basis of a single dish, with one meat in 8 yuan and one vegetable in 4 yuan, and various kinds of stir-fry are also provided. Ms. Liao, the person in charge, said that at present, about 200 people can eat here at noon, and during the free time of the canteen, they will also host banquets and various community activities.
Chenghua district Hemei Community Help-the-Aged Restaurant is a community canteen established in 2019. Chen Feng, the person in charge, told the reporter that the restaurant is about 320 square meters, with an average daily meal of about 500 people (including breakfast, lunch and evening), among which elderly users account for the majority. In terms of meal fee standard, elderly people aged 60 and above charge 12 yuan for each meal, while ordinary people charge 20 yuan for each meal, which can provide three meals in the morning, noon and evening. "Our restaurant is a buffet, with 10 staff members. In order to meet the taste needs of more people, about 20 dishes are usually prepared for dinner, and the cost is really not low." Chen Feng said that although it seems that 500 people eat every day, if the preferential subsidies are set aside, the income from selling meals alone is not enough to meet the normal operating costs of the restaurant.
explore the way
Open source and reduce expenditure, increase service content
Establish word of mouth and expand consumption scenarios
Under the background of "closing the door", one company in Chengdu has opened eight community canteens, and three more are under construction. This company is called Chengdu Yichenghe Home Service Co., Ltd., and its person in charge, Wang Yunjing, told reporters that since its establishment in 2019, the company has successively opened eight community canteens in Wuhou District and Qingyang District, and currently there are three more under construction in Shuangliu District and jinniu district.
"Our company is a branded and chained community canteen, managed by socialized catering, so our profitability and self ‘ Hematopoiety ’ Strong ability. " Wang Yunjing said, "Because our company operates more community canteens, we have also built our own upstream food factories and cold chain distribution channels, which will help us reduce the cost of upstream ingredients."
It is understood that since the opening of the first community canteen in May 2020, so far, the company has served more than 100,000 people, about 40% of whom are elderly people. The charge standard of the canteen is 15 yuan/person for the elderly and 20 yuan/person for the ordinary adults, and each meal contains two meats, one vegetarian and one soup. "Our canteen can only make a small profit at present, and the purpose of our canteen is to obtain the flow of people." Wang Yunjing introduced.
The community canteen is only a small part of the company’s community service. In addition, it will provide door-to-door services such as foot cleaning and foot bath. After community residents get to know the company through the canteen, they will be more likely to contact them once they need it. Wang Yunjing said: "The canteen is only a point of the company’s service, and it is more to provide residents with various services, such as laundry, escort, opening old-age universities, community activities, etc. Residents can place orders through the mobile APP at home."
Of course, in the early stage of the canteen, it is inseparable from various preferential subsidies from the government. "But if you want to do a good job in community canteens, you can’t always rely on subsidies," said Wang Yunjing. "Instead, you should develop new service projects, broaden your own profit channels, and at the same time, reduce costs by scale effect, open sources and reduce expenditure, so that canteens can develop in the long run."
Longevity canteen located in Wende Road, chenghua district is slightly different from the former. According to Liao Ziyuan, the person in charge of the canteen, it has operated four community canteens, and its business philosophy is to make the community canteens a link between enterprises and users.
Where is this "bond" relationship reflected? Liao Ziyuan showed reporters the common materials such as rice, cooking oil and condiments in the canteen. According to him, most of these ingredients are given by enterprises. In return, enterprises are often invited to open product fairs in the canteen. Through cooperation with enterprises, enterprises and residents are provided with consumption places other than meals, and the canteen can also get corresponding income from them.
Changshou canteen is located in Wende community, surrounded by 6-storey old residential buildings. At present, there are about 30 people dining in this 100-square-meter canteen, and each person aged 60 and above is 12 yuan. "Although there are not many people eating every day, there are 20,000 to 30,000 people I serve, not only in our community, but also in some surrounding communities." Liao Ziyuan said that although the canteen itself is not profitable, the overall comprehensive revenue is not bad through various operating means, plus venue rent and government subsidies for the elderly.
state
Community canteen is not equal to the dining hall for the elderly.
The setting of dishes should be diversified
The space attribute of canteen should also be diversified.
What are the difficulties in the management of community canteens, and how to do it? Zhang Jiao, secretary-general of Chengdu Food Culture Exchange and Innovation Center, said that community canteens are semi-public and semi-commercial, which makes it difficult to compete with the ordinary catering industry due to congenital reasons, and rely on the support of the government to a certain extent, but in actual operation, the government cannot intervene too much.
"In the past, the main customers of community canteens were old people, so in terms of dish setting, they preferred the taste of light oil and less salt that the elderly liked. But now some community canteens have begun to transform in order to increase their income. While serving the elderly, they have also launched many dishes that meet the tastes of young people. " Zhang Jiao suggested that diversified people can be considered in the dishes, and the price can also be different from that of the elderly.
Yuan Xiaoran, secretary-general of Chengdu Catering Trade Association, said that at present, community canteens are generally faced with problems such as high rent pressure, single dishes, and difficult to find intimate waiters. There are also many competitors such as specialty restaurants and couples shops that also pursue cost performance. In addition, the limited number of community canteens, compared with other tens of thousands of catering operators, accounts for too small a market share, making it difficult to form a scale, so it is difficult to lower the cost of related ingredients.
"To find a breakthrough in such a dilemma, we must see the advantages of community canteens, whose social functions and public welfare are incomparable to ordinary restaurants." Yuan Xiaoran believes that relatively speaking, users of community canteens are more sticky. For example, during non-business hours, some elderly people can often be seen gathering in the canteen to have tea and chat, and these leisure times can also introduce consumption items other than meals. If you want to operate community canteens for a long time, you can’t rely solely on government subsidies and policy support, but you should play its role as a market mechanism and complete self-hematopoiesis.
In fact, the community canteen in Chengdu is a part of grass-roots governance, and it is a convenient service complex. When eating, it is a place for the surrounding residents to eat. In normal times, it is a venue for surrounding residents to carry out various activities. "Most of the well-done community canteens in Chengdu are aware of this. In the construction of canteens, they adopt a more lively decoration method to attract residents to carry out various activities in the canteen in their spare time to increase the stickiness between the canteen and the residents." Zhang Haibo, secretary-general of Chengdu Urban and Rural Community Development and Governance Promotion Association, said, "In addition, Chengdu community canteens are not the same, but they are different in operation according to the characteristics of the community."
"In some places, the understanding of community canteens may be biased. If it is simply understood as an elderly canteen, it will inevitably encounter problems in the business process." Zhang Haibo said that in addition to the elderly, more young people are also the service targets of community canteens, and the needs of various groups should be taken into account in the operation process; At the same time, we should not blindly pursue low prices, but should set reasonable prices according to the actual situation.
Zhang Haibo said that in order to achieve long-term development, community canteens generally need to start from three aspects: first, we must establish land use norms for community canteens and make full use of idle resources in the community; Secondly, establish the operating standards of community canteens to ensure the quality of community canteens; Finally, supervision should be strengthened so that the problems reflected by the masses can be solved in time.
Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star Journalist Du Yuquan Yan Xiaofeng