Big fish come out of big water. In recent years, there have been many sub-categories in the “chicken eating” super track. For example, the fried chicken in Zhengzhou, Henan and other places is hot.
With fried chicken blooming in many parts of the country, many people can’t help thinking, can this segment of the track produce a super brand in the future?
Speaking of fried chicken, what do you think? Earth stoves, iron pans, a couple’s shop full of fireworks or fly kitchens on the roadside
In the past, if fried chicken was used as a racing track for chain operation, people would inevitably have many questions: How to establish barriers? Will the upper limit for this category be too low? How to differentiate from street side mom and pop stores However, this small stall that can only meet the needs of street side stalls and mom and pop stores seems to be running out of a new track.
In 2020, Huya fried chicken was introduced in Zhengzhou, breaking the form of the common fried chicken street store, and moved the fried chicken store into the shopping center. Since then, it has led the fried chicken category, from Zhengzhou to Henan, and then to the whole country, to promote the brand development of fried chicken category; In 2021, Haidilao hatched a fried chicken brand in Zhengzhou, named “Brother Miao’s Fresh Fried Chicken” (now renamed Brother Miao’s Kungfu Fried Chicken).
As the two most promising brands in the fried chicken track, they are also located in the shopping center, adopt the chicken eating mode of frying and then heating on the table, and even use a large pan. Who can be the top 1 in the “fried chicken race” has also been talked about for a time.
But by the end of last year, Senior Brother Miao’s kungfu fried chicken was still on the side of Zhengzhou, with only 5 stores. But Huya has opened nearly 200 stores nationwide. This also makes people wonder why the brand of Huya fried chicken can rise rapidly and far surpass the scale of Miao’s fried chicken? Is it really possible to create a super brand in the future?
1、 Selection and positioning of “chicken eating” business
In recent years, around the business of “eating chicken”, there have been many subdivided categories in the catering market, especially the development of fried chicken.
Hongdian.com noted that the first store of “Tiger Ya Fried Chicken”, the head brand of fried chicken racing track, was launched at the beginning of 2020, just after the outbreak of the epidemic, but “Tiger Ya”, who was born out of time, has settled in 18 provinces and cities across the country in almost three years, with nearly 200 stores, expanding to become the “number one” in the industry.
Huya Fried Chicken Store
Huya Fried Chicken Store
In the whole period of unstable and uncertain external environment, when most enterprises are still struggling, transforming and shrinking, we can see why Huya can grow rapidly from its development context.
According to Hongdian.com, founder Wang Bing has been working in the catering industry for many years before he founded Huya fried chicken. He has successively managed hot pot, pickled Chinese cabbage fish, and finally fried chicken. In Wang Bing’s own words, he has also gone through some detours. After a lot of tempering, through continuous accumulation, he has had the thick accumulation of Huya fried chicken.
Why do you choose fried chicken track? Wang Bing also shared his thoughts with us.
First of all, fried chicken itself is not a new category. As a homely dish on the table of ordinary people in Shandong, Henan, and other places, it has a broad mass base and is even known as “national cuisine.”. The market does not require additional education. At the same time, the consumption base of chicken raw materials is large, and the supply chain is mature and stable, suitable for national development. This is a long slope with thick snow.
Secondly, in the past, the stores at the fried chicken track were mostly husband and wife stores, with a low degree of standardization. There is still much room for improvement in the development of the entire category, which is also an important opportunity for the rapid development of fried chicken.
In January 2020, the first Hanhai Haishang store of Huya fried chicken opened. Unlike the traditional street fried chicken shop, Huya has also carried out an innovation and upgrading of fried chicken from the perspective of consumer experience and user thinking.
In terms of brand image, Huya adopts the way of “brand name+category name”. The brand name “Tiger Ya”, together with the cute little tiger brand mascot, is refreshing and impressive at the first contact point between consumers and Tiger Ya. At the same time, combining with the traditional tiger culture, highlighting the brand concept, holding high the banner of rejuvenating national cuisine, has also triggered a cultural value recognition in the hearts of consumers.
In terms of store location, the operating costs and trial and error costs are very high from the beginning of the opening of the mall. It seems that Huya has chosen a difficult road, but with the help of the brand potential of the shopping center in the early stage of establishment, it has become a powerful lever for Huya to choose more locations and open stores in more areas in the future.
Soon after the opening of Hanhai Haishang Store, Tiger Tooth Fried Chicken quickly became popular in the business circle. According to early employees of the store, the Zhengzhou Hanhai Haishang Shopping Center has just opened, and the mall itself is not very popular, with many stores very desolate. However, the opening of Tiger Tooth Fried Chicken has aroused many people’s curiosity. After all, it was difficult to see fried chicken in shopping malls at that time. As more and more customers enter the store, Tiger Tooth’s fried chicken business is becoming increasingly popular.
Tiger Tooth Fried Chicken Shop
Tiger Tooth Fried Chicken Shop
The traditional fried chicken on the street is moved into the mall, making the store and brand image more fashionable, upgrading the environment and experience, and also bringing delicious and cost-effective products. Upgrading old products, innovating models, and meeting new consumer needs are key factors for Tiger Teeth to rapidly expand its market in Zhengzhou in the early stage.
2、 Tiger Teeth 1 store=open 3 stores, rapid expansion from a single store to the underlying logic of multiple stores
With the rapid growth brought about by the single store model, as well as the gradual improvement of basic strength and capital reserves, Tiger Teeth has also entered a new stage.
Hongdian.com learned that after Hanhai Haishang Store, Huya opened 27 direct-sale stores in Zhengzhou headquarters in only about one year, and the store queue was hot. At the same time, Huya has also begun to expand to other regions. Up to now, Huya has successfully settled in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Gansu, Guangdong, Shandong, Anhui and other regions.
Why can Tiger Ya quickly enter multiple markets in just over two years? According to a local Huya franchisee in Henan Province, under the circumstances of uncertain overall environment and economic downturn, Huya’s “store opening model” is very capable, and the effect of opening a Huya fried chicken is almost equal to that of the previous three stores.
Huya Fried Chicken Store
Huya Fried Chicken Store
According to its description, the store size of Huya is usually within 200 square meters. With the brand potential accumulated in Zhengzhou in the early stage, the scarcity of creative local dishes and the strong store drainage ability, the newly opened stores can often get a good position in mature business districts, and can talk with the shopping malls about unusual rent conditions.
At the same time, with its superior store location, after the opening of a new Huya fried chicken store, it often does not need to worry about the problem of customer flow. Based on its business district, it can achieve stable and sustainable income by settling and re-purchasing targeted customers. Compared with other stores of the same business scale, the risk of a Huya fried chicken store becomes more controllable.
More importantly, Tiger Tooth Fried Chicken currently has 70 direct outlets, and its operations in various aspects such as human resource management, new product development and innovation, financial management, logistics and distribution, and store operation management are mature, complete, and supervised. The maturity of the direct sales system also allows more franchisees to open stores, helping franchisees achieve rapid profitability. According to the franchisee, the return period for investing in Tiger Tooth Fried Chicken Shop is around 10 months.
Quick operation, controllable risk and quick income are undoubtedly the reasons for franchisees to highly recognize Huya. While going deep into the whole operation of Huya, we will find that Huya fried chicken single store is so capable of carrying and can quickly enter multiple markets across the country, which is also inseparable from its own deep cultivation and polishing in products, services, marketing, models and other aspects.
1. Addicted flavor type, stir-frying technology, “stir-frying chicken+side dishes” innovation
In terms of production, Huya focuses on the key ingredient “chicken”, enlarges the core technology “stir-frying”, and uses the open kitchen to display the smell of stir-frying and stir-frying fireworks, leaving a fresh, safe and healthy impression on consumers; In terms of flavor types, in addition to retaining the three classic flavor types of fried chicken spicy, black pepper, and soy sauce flavor, Huya has also continued to make iteration and innovation, superimposed some high-value ingredients around the core ingredients, and created Thai style green lime spicy, fried chicken mushroom and other special flavors.
According to Meituan’s research, the two most popular flavors are spicy and fresh, which together account for more than 90% of the taste market share. There is no doubt that the main flavors of Huya fried chicken are very memorable. Take Huya’s soy sauce spicy fried chicken as an example, the annual sales volume has reached 3 million+pots.
Fried chicken with tiger
Fried chicken with tiger
As we all know, pepper is the most addictive and the largest flavor type of seasoning ingredients. For example, the famous fried beef with cooking smoke and fried meat with chili peppers, which have emerged in recent years, all ignited the market with the help of chili peppers. But just relying on spicy food, similar products emerge in endlessly on the market. However, Huya’s soy sauce flavor is slightly spicy, which is more symbolic and more differentiated. The rich soy sauce flavor prepared by 12 processes and 18 kinds of sauces is the base, and the fragrance is striking, while it is supplemented by the refreshing and stimulating taste of slightly spicy. With this good taste, Huya has attracted more customers and formed its own stable customer base.
Many consumers commented in Xiaohongshu that the spicy fried chicken with tiger tooth sauce has a delicious taste, rich aroma, and is enjoyable and impressive.
In addition, the traditional fried chicken is generally “chicken”. When stir-frying, essential ingredients such as scallions, ginger, garlic, red peppers, and green peppers were added. Add at most some noodles as a base. The diversity of ingredients is inevitably monotonous. In addition, Tiger Tooth Fried Chicken has innovatively increased the selection of various side dishes around core ingredients.
The richness of side dishes is even comparable to that of hot pot restaurants. There are not only common side dishes such as potato chips, corn, thousand-leaf tofu, flammulina velutipes, broccoli, but also unique side dishes such as Qingyuan mushrooms, Shouguang dried beans, fresh bamboo shoots, cheese rice cakes, egg yolk shrimp balls, which add a lot of color to the fried chicken.
2. The product portfolio is rich and the advantage of high cost performance is outstanding, helping the store expand customers and stabilize customers
To meet the diversified needs of the consumer market, Huya has also made great efforts in store type and product richness.
In terms of store layout, Huya has not only built a China-Chic style fried chicken store, but also a restaurant type of fried chicken+barbecue+craft. The two types of stores have their own characteristics and are impressive. At the same time, whether it is the fried chicken shop in the mall or the restaurant type entering the sinking market, without exception, the dining environment is comfortable, but also quite trendy and fashionable, which can make customers willing to stay longer.
In terms of products, Huya has not only fried chicken, but also cold dishes, snacks, desserts, drinks and other combined meals. The abundance of products also means that Huya provides consumers with more diverse consumption scenarios, which can meet the needs of consumers for two-person meals and multi-person parties.
Tiger Ya Food
Tiger Ya Food
If it is said that meeting the diversified needs of consumers helps Huya broaden its consumer base; Then, the experience of high cost performance helps Huya to stabilize its target customers.
Take the local fried chicken in Zhengzhou as an example, the per capita consumption of the store is about 55 yuan. Compared with the fried chicken shop on the street, it also has high cost performance. After all, to achieve the same food and beverage as Tiger Ya (chicken, vegetables, staple food, snacks, and beverages to meet the needs of a full meal and drink), the cost is higher in essence, and Tiger Ya can also provide consumers with better dining environment and services.
High performance-price ratio also brings positive feedback to Huya, reducing the threshold of customers’ consumption, and customers will be more carefree when choosing Huya. At the same time, as long as customers are satisfied with the signature fried chicken products, customers are also willing to try other related products. The big data information of red food shows that consumers’ perception of Huya brand has gone beyond its fried chicken products, such as Huya’s Xiaodiaoli soup, Huya mixed gluten, belt noodles, fennel deep-fried dough sticks and other products have received good market response.
3. “Play” with Generation Z group to create a young IP image
In recent years, with the gradual improvement of the consumption ability of young consumers, young people have become the main force of the consumer market, and many catering enterprises have also made efforts to “please” young people.
Unlike many brands that passively embrace the young consumer market, Huya has determined the development goal of building young IP from the beginning. It has also made a series of innovations around its core customer group of 18-24 years old and its sub-core customer group of 25-29 years old. Rather than please the Gen Z group, Huya pays more attention to how to play with the Gen Z group.
How do you play? Tiger Ya not only launched a variety of cute tiger dolls and peripheral products loved by young people, but also planned a series of pet powder activities aimed at the consumption characteristics of young people such as interest in social life, fashion and fun. For example, the Tiger Ya King Summit, the Tiger Ya Goddess Tea Party, the Tiger Ya College Entrance Examination, the Golden Carp, you treat me to pay the bill, and so on.
Taking a series of online and offline activities implemented by Tiger Ya in cooperation with the King Glory Game as an example, Redfood learned that online Tiger Ya has established about 20 King Glory fans and accumulated tens of thousands of fans. In the fan group, Tiger Ya will organize online team games from time to time to keep the whole group highly active. The winner of the online team game can get the discount coupon of Tiger Ya fried chicken. In addition, the online membership points mall built by Huya itself can also provide fans with toys, skin exchange and other benefits; Off the line, Tiger Ya also implemented and planned some activities such as the King’s Peak Race.
Tiger Ya Cooperation King Glory Game
Tiger Ya Cooperation King Glory Game
As we all know, Glory of the King is a team competitive mobile game with a social attribute explosion. It is different from a single-player game in which one works hard. Glory of the King has a completely different exclusive team formation pleasure. In the game, Tiger Ya has built a closer link with her king fans. Through long-term links and interactions with young groups, she has also formed her own group of loyal fans. More importantly, through the group drive and oral communication of these loyal fans, she has also helped Tiger Ya continue to expand among the target group and continue to make a circle among young groups.
It can be seen that Tiger Tooth meets the diversified connotation needs of Gen Z beyond “eating and drinking”, and Tiger Tooth also welcomes the support of Gen Z groups on social platforms. “Teeth Cute and Cute”, “yyds! Fat Teeth are definitely” Teeth Dominant “,” Teeth Fried Chicken, Enjoy King Glory “,” Must Be Playing Games and Eating Chicken Together “… On social platforms, Tiger Teeth has become a carrier for the younger generation to express their individuality and value proposition.
4. Public domain drainage, private domain retention, and a large number of members and fans contribute to the long-term stable value-added of the brand
New channels and new traffic are accelerators for the rise of many new consumer brands, and Huya is also of great significance in this regard. Hongyan has noticed that Huya Fried Chicken has invested a lot of energy in many social platforms, such as the official account, Xiaohongshu, Tiktok, and Weibo. By continuously outputting hot topics and activities, such as “pet powder”, “black top”, and “looking for koi”, it has created a lot of screen level catering content.
Fried chicken with black pepper
Fried chicken with black pepper
In addition, in the field of short video live broadcasting, Tiger Ya is also continuously increasing. We noticed that on the Tiktok platform, there were nearly 100 relevant accounts searched for Tiktok, and the account subjects were involved from the official Huya Fried Chicken to the regional branches. The number of fans of Tiaoyin accounts in individual stores has reached tens of thousands.
The extensive promotion on the Internet channel side has rapidly improved the popularity and brand reputation of Huya, and also provided the soil for its rapid growth, helping the brand to build from 0 to 1.
