Chinese Catering Has Ushered in a New Track, and Listing Has Become a New Trend

Public information shows that before 2018, the investment and financing of my country's catering industry has been relatively active. Since the epidemic in 2020, the enthusiasm of capital has been high.

As of August 2021, there have been 86 investment and financing events in China's catering industry, and the amount of investment and financing involved. 43.91 billion yuan, more than twice that of 2020.

According to the "2021 Chinese Chain Catering Brand Industry Report", the scale of Chinese chain catering brands accounts for about 79.8% of the overall catering, and the scale will reach 3.15 trillion yuan in 2020; after the epidemic, Chinese chain catering brands have bottomed out and recovered rapidly. It is expected that in the future Maintaining a high annual growth rate of 8.8% for three years, the scale is expected to exceed 4 trillion yuan in 2023.

Chinese catering itself has an absolutely dominant consumer group in China. In recent years, with the increasing standardization of Chinese catering, most brands have both the convenience and speed of Western fast food and the taste that satisfies the "Chinese stomach".

In this context, capital is increasingly flocking to the Chinese-style chain restaurant track. In addition to several companies that are about to go public, there is also a steady stream of financing from companies that have no plans to go public.

On January 24, 2022, Yisao Canteen announced the official completion of a multi-million-level angel round of financing; on November 29, 2021, just 4 months after the last round of financing, Lanzhou beef noodle brand Chen Xianggui won a new round of financing financing.

On October 27, 2021, Sister Xi’s fried skewers completed the A round of financing of 295 million yuan; on August 10, 2021, Wen Heyou successively obtained the B round and the C round of financing; on July 14, 2021, “Meet Xiaomian” "Brands such as the completion of over 100 million yuan of strategic financing have been favored by capital.

Observing several chain catering brands that are about to hit the capital market, it can be found that Jinbang Capital, an investment institution focusing on consumer goods, has invested in two companies, Rural Ji and Lao Niangjiu, and Tencent Investment has twice blessed Hefu Lao Mee.

According to the company's data, Laoxiangji has received investment from institutions such as Jiahua Capital, GF Qianhe, and Maixing Investment. Among them, GF Qianhe is a wholly-owned establishment of GF Securities Co., Ltd. (000776.SZ, 1776.HK). alternative investment subsidiary of a securities firm.

The Village Fund has twice been invested by Sequoia Fund, and other fund industries such as Haina Asia, Kingbond Capital and Blue Capital have participated in the investment of the Village Fund. In 2016, Uncle Lao Niang also received investment from Jinbang Capital.

It is worth noting that Internet companies are also trying to get a piece of the pie. Among the investment institutions behind Hefu Lao Mian, Tencent Investment has twice entered the market.

In addition, Wuhan Zhonghe Chuang Investment, Wangju Investment, Huaying Capital, Longfor Capital, CMC Capital and Zhongwei Capital are also its investors. In addition to investing in Hefu Lao Noodles, Tencent also invested in Ma Jiyong, a Lanzhou beef noodle brand; as early as 2020, JD Fresh also officially announced at the meeting that it will incubate 10 catering brands with sales of over 100 million in JD within three years.

In the future, it will drive the industry to create a catering retail market of more than 50 billion yuan.

Besides, some listed catering companies not only operate their own brands, but also invest in some emerging chain brands.

For example, listed company Jiumaojiu (09922.HK), in addition to its free brands Taierer Pickled Cabbage Fish, Jiumaojiu Northwest Cuisine and other sub-brands, has also invested in several chain restaurants such as Mee Mee Noodles and Tiger Beef Brisket.

According to statistics, as far as catering companies are concerned, the growth in registrations in 2021 is gratifying, but at the same time, the sales volume of cancellations has also increased significantly.

Judging from the cancellation and suspension sales, in the past ten years, the cancellation and suspension sales of my country's catering enterprises ushered in a peak period in 2019, with a total of 875,000 cancellations and cancellations, a year-on-year increase of 32.4%. In 2020, the sales volume of cancellations was 858,000, a year-on-year decrease of 1.9%. In the first October of 2021, a total of 784,000 catering enterprises in my country were cancelled and revoked, an increase of 18.1% year-on-year. It can be seen that opportunities and challenges coexist.

Compared with other industries, the catering industry has a low threshold and high reproducibility. However, the competition in the catering track is very fierce, the hidden dangers of food safety are relatively large, the establishment of the supply chain will be relatively complicated, and the brand effect and scale effect will not be achieved overnight.

Therefore, the industry believes that in the catering industry, it is difficult for speculators and blind chasers to have a long-term survival space, and the capital side entering the game also needs to be cautious.