Why is Mala Tang ＂YOLO＂？
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As an important part of Chinese fast food, mala Tang, from local street features to flowers all over the country, has shown a rapid growth trend in the whole industry.
Since the beginning of March, the mala Tang in Tianshui, Gansu Province has unexpectedly come out of the circle, becoming another legend in the consumer market in China after the barbecue in Zibo and the ice and snow in Erbin. According to the "2024 Qingming Small Holiday Consumption Trend Report" released by Tongcheng Travel, Tianshui has entered the top ten of this year’s Qingming Small Holiday destinations, becoming the "dark horse" destination this year.
Mala Tang, which originated in Sichuan and Chongqing, combines the spicy taste of Sichuan cuisine with the essence of Chongqing hot pot, which can best reflect the bold personality and multicultural characteristics of local honest and frank. However, the plain folk snacks in Sichuan and Chongqing were seized by Gansu next door. What is even more surprising is that it is two Northeasters who really rule the mala Tang Jianghu in China.
In recent years, the category of mala Tang in China has developed rapidly, forming a competitive pattern of Yang Guofu Mala Tang and Sean Mala Tang. At one time, it was difficult for middle-waist brands to break through, and the current market scale is about 170 billion yuan. According to the data of Tianyancha Professional Edition, by the end of March, there were more than 162,000 mala Tang-related enterprises in China, including about 2,770 new enterprises from January to February this year.
A short video "with fire" an old industry
On February 13 this year, a female college student who went home for the New Year posted a short video on social media. The video only had a picture of her hand rolling powder with chopsticks, with the line "Suggest popularizing Gansu Mala Tang nationwide". This is a 7-second short video with only one picture and one line, with over 1.5 million likes, over 300,000 comments and over 2 million reposts.
With the arrival of this wave of traffic, local officials responded quickly and immediately started the "pet" mode. Not only the party and government organs have all opened their doors for foreign tourists to park for free, but also various scenic spots, hotels, travel agencies, etc. have taken action to send scenic spot tickets, cultural and creative products, accommodation concessions and local specialties to foreign tourists who eat mala Tang, which is full of determination and boldness of vision.
"Mala Tang is a street snack with a history of hundreds of years. The spicy pepper, the hemp of pepper, and all kinds of ingredients tumbling and jumping on the tip of the tongue can be described as a city spicy and fragrant for a hundred years. " Sima Qingshan, president of Chongqing Food Review Society and a historical and cultural writer, said that Mala Tang is synonymous with hot pot in Chongqing, and locals call it "small hot pot", which is mainly reflected in the difference in price and environment. In the past, they were all popular stores for one person in Chongqing food street. One or two people could experience the various combinations of ingredients and the bottom of the pot, and a bunch of people could afford to arrange noodles.
According to the data of Baidu Index, there are more women searching for Mala Tang than men, and the consumers in the age group of 30-39 are the most, accounting for about 38%. According to the data of Meituan, at present, the age group of Mala Tang customers, mainly the post-90 s and post-95 s consumers, pay more attention to the dining environment and food quality and taste. Old mala Tang shops can no longer meet their needs, and it is the trend to focus on differentiated and subdivided mala Tang brands.
According to the data of Sullivan in Jost, the market size of mala Tang industry in China will reach 197.3 billion yuan by 2025, and mala Tang has become the fastest growing food category in the post-epidemic era.
Who controls the ups and downs in today’s mala Tang Jianghu?
A wide audience base has laid a foundation for the high food popularity of Mala Tang, and men, women and children sit around the stove, filled with a kind of human fireworks in the dense atmosphere of aroma and steam.
On March 30th, the reporter walked into a Yang Guofu Mala Tang in Chongqing University Town. The most intuitive impression here is exquisiteness, and fresh ingredients are placed in different categories. With the color matching of green vegetables, red meat, white fish and various kinds of quick-frozen foods, it looks particularly beautiful and attracts many college students to taste it. The unit price of customers around 30 yuan is lower than that of Mala Tang in Chongqing, and it is also lower than that of 10 yuan.
It is understood that Yang Guofu’s success is an inspirational legend. He started from the night market, was brave in improvement and innovation, and ushered in the rapid development of Mala Tang. In September 2017, it set a record of opening 2,500 new stores in five years. Up to now, more than 6,000 global chain stores have been opened in 31 provinces and 10 overseas countries.
At the "2024 China Catering Industry Summit", Yang Guofu, who only has a junior high school education, said frankly that by establishing a very comprehensive franchisee training system, the operation ability of franchisee stores will be improved; A perfect purchasing and purchasing system can indirectly monitor the operating conditions of each store; There are also patrol stores and rating systems, and the company can directly manage franchise stores, which supports the rapid development of the group.
On the surface, the word mala Tang seems to be the symbol of snacks in Chongqing, Sichuan, but the people who really make mala Tang a big industry are mostly from Binxian County, Harbin, with a population of less than 580,000. In addition to Yang Guofu and Sean, there are also brands such as Haoyue Mala Tang, Ma Yutao Mala Tang and Hongxingyuan Mala Tang. The reason why they can go to the whole country depends on the strategy of "popular taste" and "joining and expanding".
In fact, the field of Sichuan-Chongqing mala Tang has not been idle in recent years. "Old products and new works" have gradually become lively, and sub-brands such as plate mala Tang, dry mixed mala Tang and scale mala Tang have emerged one after another. Compared with these online celebrity products that follow the trend in the market, every taste and customer in Chongqing still sticks to the Sichuan-Chongqing gene of malatang.
Lei Guangcheng, vice president of Chongqing Meiwei Meike Brand Management Co., Ltd., told the reporter that since its inception, it has strictly implemented the "five standards" of products-soup, meat, vegetables, taste and materials. "On the basis of retaining the spicy flavor of Sichuan and Chongqing, we have also created new eating methods such as oil splashing and dry mixing, as well as special flavors such as golden soup and tomato, which fully meet the diverse needs of diners." He said.
Although it is difficult to compete with "Yang Guofu", the territory of every taste and every customer has been extended to major cities all over the country, and the scale of nearly 3,000 stores has also set a record of "No.1 in the five lists of public comments" for 10 consecutive months, becoming a strong dark horse brand in the field of mala Tang fast food in China.
Enlightenment from Mala Tang’s "Hot Out of Circle"
In recent years, Sichuan-style mala Tang, which is characterized by spicy, dry-mixed and dish-packed, has become popular, with topping, oil splashing and cooking around the stove frequently, and the competition pattern of mala Tang categories is quietly changing.
It is understood that the category of mala Tang has undergone several major changes, from "pot/stove" to "bowl" and then to "plate", which has caused some "abnormalities" in the slightly dull mala Tang market, and the market has reciprocated. There have been many large-scale financing for mala Tang, which has made everyone "sit up and take notice" of the mala Tang industry. Judging from the "hands-on" of chain catering financing event investment institutions, popular institutions in the catering consumption field such as Tomato Capital, Jiayu Capital and Black Ant Capital all have investment records.
"In recent years, Chongqing, as a city in online celebrity, has gained top-level traffic, but the consumption of mala Tang has been tepid, mainly due to problems such as insufficient scale effect of chain operation, few well-known brands in the country, outstanding differentiation of characteristics, and quality service to be strengthened." Mo Yuanming, a researcher at the Shuangcheng Economic Circle Collaborative Development Center in Chengdu-Chongqing, chongqing technology and business university, suggested that we should strengthen the precise positioning of Chongqing Mala Tang and subdivide the consumer market; Strengthen the regional cooperation and brand co-branding of Mala Tang in Chengdu and Chongqing, and cultivate the leading enterprise Mala Tang; Strengthen industry supervision, optimize business environment and improve quality service.
The relevant person in charge of Tongcheng Research Institute said that food has become one of the favorite travel themes of today’s young people, and the cases of short-sighted frequency bands burning a store, a road and a city have become common occurrences, even having a profound impact on consumers’ travel habits and the marketing methods of the tourism industry.
"Short videos have a natural’ close relationship’ with the tourism industry, and have quietly changed people’s travel habits, thus changing the’ traditional gameplay’ of the tourism industry and giving birth to new consumption patterns." Zhang Dawei, general manager of regional government affairs of Ctrip Group, said that at present, short video marketing has covered six elements of tourism, namely "eating, living, traveling, buying and entertaining", and it has become a new trend to be planted with grass first and then punched out.
Sima Qing said frankly that the "explosion point" of Tianshui Mala Tang is a cyclical phenomenon, and it is also a big demand for consumers to seek innovation and change. Differentiated play and precise drainage have become the background color of the circle. However, past cases have proved that traffic often "comes and goes in a hurry". Therefore, in addition to the explosion point, local governments and enterprises still need to operate the traffic system.
"From online celebrity to Changhong, what is more important is the core competitiveness and brand value of the enterprise. By creating differentiated brand positioning, a unique brand impression is formed, thus forming consumer competitiveness." Zhan Junhao, a famous brand positioning expert and crisis public relations expert, said.
