Mala Tang has raised tens of millions of dollars. When the capital focuses on street snacks, who will be the next online celebrity?

For a time, the snacks in the streets were chased by capital. Even the most civilian mala Tang has been targeted by hot money.

Wen | Zeng Shiya

Edit | Chu Ming

Operation | Mi Yue

Hu Xiaoyu is a hot spicy dip fan. She still remembers that in the fifth grade of primary school, the first Yang Guofu Mala Tang was opened at the school gate, which changed her impression of Mala Tang from a "pot roadside stall" to a shop. I didn't know it was a chain at the time. Later, she went to college and visited Yang Guofu in the canteen twice a week, serving noodles, beef and baby dishes ... "Happiness bought for more than 20 yuan".

Now that Hu Xiaoyu has graduated from university for three years, she doesn't realize that the hot money may have come from the mala Tang bowl handed out from the small window in the kitchen.

On June 7th, Mala Tang brand "Xiaomanjiao" announced the completion of a series of financing of 10 million yuan invested by Qifu Capital. In the same month, Guo Liang, the founder of Fuke Mala Tang, contacted a double-digit investor.

Fuke Mala Tang, founded by Guo Liang, was the first in this line to accept capital. 20 17 10 On the first day after the National Day holiday, Wang Xiaolong, CEO of Baifu Holdings, sat opposite Guo Liang in a Fuke Mala Tang restaurant in Shenzhen. While eating mala Tang, the two talked about the topic of investment.

At that time, it was a new round of strategic adjustment of Fuke Mala Tang. Fuke Mala Tang has chosen the direct selling mode since its establishment, involving the production, transportation and processing of ingredients. By June 20 17, the site of 1000 square meters could no longer carry the production and storage functions needed by this mala Tang. The company rented floors 1-7 of the new building and expanded the site to 4000 square meters.

In the downtown area, a bustling and clean shopping center has sprung up. Focusing on young white-collar workers, Guo Liang thinks it's time to move Mala Tang Restaurant from supermarkets and department stores to higher-end shopping centers.

These two adjustments need a lot of money, and the emergence of Baifu is just the right time. A week later, Guo Liang received a call from Wang Xiaolong on the expressway to Guangzhou, and was told that the project had passed, and the entrance would be closed when 10 ended. At that time, there were only eight people in the management team of Fuke Mala Tang.

After 1 year, 20 18 years, 3-year-old Xiaoman pepper was sold outside Shanghai as a breakthrough, accounting for 5 of the 10 mala Tang stores in China, and the average order volume of the stores reached about 5 100. This data attracted the angel round investment of Tomato Capital. On 20 19, Juedu Fund joined, and Xiaomanjiao completed the Pre-A round of financing.

In addition to mala Tang, snacks such as mutton skewers and pot-stewed snacks in the streets and lanes in the past have also begun to welcome the favor of capital, and noodles are the most typical representative in the near future.

In the past three months, capital took turns: in May, Ma Jiyong received angel round financing, in which Sequoia Capital delivered a letter of intent for investment with a valuation of over 654.38 billion yuan; Zhang Lala pasta, founded by Zhang Xiaohui, the founder of Mala Tang's sister, was invested by Shunwei Capital and Jinshajiang Venture Capital with a valuation of 60 million US dollars; Wu Ye Noodle disclosed in June that the A round of financing reached RMB 300 million, and entered the A+ round three weeks later, from Gaoying Venture Capital. ...

"Capital is pouring into the catering field, mainly focusing on snacks and fast food." Gong Yinglong said. Gong Yinglong has been rooted in the catering industry for more than 20 years. He is the co-founder of California beef noodles and the founder of micro-rice. Today, he is the founder of China New Catering Industry Alliance, and meets with more than 200 catering entrepreneurs once a year to talk about more than 200 catering projects.

According to him, several leading investment institutions have contacted Yang Guofu and Sean, two industry leaders, but they all said that they have no plans to accept capital at present. "So they turned to noodles, but I didn't know that noodles were fried so high overnight." This also shows from the side that mala Tang fits the imagination of capital.

In Gong Yinglong's view, capital chooses Mala Tang because it is the most likely category to become a chain store, just like fried chicken and hamburger. "First of all, its product genes and category cognition are strong enough; Second, the husband and wife files in the small shop have strong enough store reproduction; Third, its entire supply chain is easy to standardize; Fourth, it has enough audiences in the sinking market. "

When a track is recognized, the one running at the front is often the most eye-catching.

On the Mala Tang track, Yang Guofu Mala Tang established in 2003 and Sean Mala Tang established in 2008 are far ahead. Yang Guofu has more than 6,000 stores around the world, followed by Sean, who has more than 5,800 stores. Many rising stars still aim at thousands of stores. In the list of "Top Three Brands of China Catering (Sub-category) in 2020" released by Hongcan. Com, Sean Mara, Tang Wei and Yang Guofu Mala Tang became the first and second places in the list with absolute superiority, with a difference of only 1. 1.

However, all along, these two brands seem to be "joining silently and making a fortune". They seldom give interviews. Daily people contacted the headquarters of Yang Guofu Mala Tang, and the other party said that there was no media docking department. Sean Mala Tang's co-founder also called it "inconvenient" and refused the interview.

They also reject capital. In the past reports of Tech Planet, Jiang Baidong, co-founder of Sean Mala Tang, once said: "We don't think it is necessary yet, and we haven't decided whether to let capital in."

Part of the "unnecessary" comes from Yang Guofu and Sean's "not bad money". As a mala Tang brand with franchise system, the franchise fee is not a small income. At present, opening a Yang Guofu Mala Tang in the north, Guangzhou and Shenzhen requires an annual joining fee of 27,900 yuan, compared with 23,900 yuan in other prefecture-level cities and municipalities directly under the Central Government. The joining fee of Xi 'an Mala Tang is 1.98 million yuan/year in the first-line and provincial capitals and municipalities directly under the Central Government. According to the current number of stores, two brands can charge more than 1 100 million yuan for joining each year. In the past Caijing report, Yang Guofu, the founder of Yang Guofu Mala Tang, said that the company's revenue of 20 19 is expected to reach1300 million yuan, of which the initial fee only accounts for 20%.

Another reason comes from the "conversion cost" of snacks. From "roadside stalls" to "small frontispiece" and then to "chain stores", snacks rooted in the streets and lanes must be "well dressed" and "well behaved" if they want to get a seat in Beijing.

Gong Yinglong cited an example of porridge brand to illustrate. He once coached a porridge brand to plan an IPO in 2023, but the founder had different ideas. The other party hopes to postpone it for a few more years and earn more money. Since the second half of last year, this porridge brand has been moving closer to the "compliance" of capital requirements. However, the founder found that once "compliance" meant business tax, value-added tax, employee insurance and other expenses. "The net profit of this industry is about 10, and your compliance net profit will be much less." Gong Yinglong said.

Guo Liang, the founder of Foucault, said frankly that when accepting the investment from Baifu Holdings, the only concern was the fiscal and taxation issues. The early shops of Fuke Mala Tang were all operated in the name of self-employed, and they enjoyed certain policy subsidies in fiscal and taxation expenditures. "But when capital enters, Fuke will adopt corporate management, which means taking on more fiscal and tax pressures."

In the end, Yang Guofu and Sean refused capital and continued to build their own empire, while Fogg and Xiaomanjiao embraced capital and threw themselves into a brand-new game.

The giant is blocked, where should the hot money flow?

Embracing the capital's mala Tang has its own plans. Sister Mi Mala Tang takes "drinkable Mala Tang" as a label to promote healthy, light blue-green storefronts and signs, literature and art, and freshness; Xiaomanjiao's shop is a fiery national tide, and its taste is spicy, Sichuan and Chongqing; Fuke, on the other hand, takes the "hot pot" of the high-end route. There are more than ten kinds of spices on the buffet table, and new pots and dishes are pushed every quarter.

Guo Liang, the founder of Fuke Mala Tang, told daily people that there is no need to label two traditional brands. "We didn't say we would compete with them, so our positioning is different." .

Novices prefer digital competition. Guo Bonan, the founder of Xiaomanjiao, said in an interview with Consumer Plate that we should take the road of digital innovation. Guo Bonan, who used to work in an Internet company, set up a position related to data research to know who his customer base is, where his office is, how often he spends, what he likes to eat best and how much he spends.

On the other hand, Guo Liang, the founder of Fuke Mala Tang, also said: "We have launched a smart restaurant, and the ordering platform records the consumption habits of customers. When ordering food again, the algorithm will recommend the appropriate menu according to the record, which will make the ordering process more efficient and solve the queuing problem during peak hours. " Today, Fuke Mala Tang is looking for new traffic growth points in the private domain, creating micro-signals, building communities, and launching its own small programs and membership systems.

There is also competition between giants and rookies, not even mala Tang. Yang Guofu sells self-heating mala Tang and chafing dish bottom materials online. In some offline stores, there are also special shelves to display these retail goods. Moreover, Fuke also introduced a spicy hot pot that can be brewed. Their competitors are not only Mala Tang brands, but also self-heating foods and convenience foods that have become a red sea. In terms of supply chain, Gong Yinglong revealed that Yang Guofu has invested 500 million yuan to build a supply chain; Fuke Mala Tang also cooperates with Haidilao's supply chain in Shu Hai. After the pot bottom is made, Shu Hai is responsible for production and storage.

However, the fierce waves between brands may not arouse the waves of consumers. In Little Red Book, searching for "Mala Tang" mostly shows "homemade Mala Tang", and some notes are advertised as "more delicious than Yang Guofu".

When the epidemic came, Guo Liang felt the power of capital.

When the epidemic strikes, the catering industry in China is under great pressure. Baifu provided Fuke with help in the capital chain. "This will help us establish credit links with some banks, provide some loans or other financial support, and bring us strong confidence." Guo Liang recalled.

Because Foucault has been taking the direct mode of focusing on assets, it has invested a lot of money. Under the epidemic, Baifu also proposed to take the "joining" joint venture model. This year, Beijing opened two Fuke Mala Tang restaurants directly operated by Baifu Holdings.

Under the rolling hot money, talents are also flowing. Xiaomanjiao's team has people who are hungry and the US delegation. Fokker's team of more than 50 people now also has some internet people. With the influx of new people, the whole snack catering industry is also a little diluted and high-end. Gong Yinglong remembers that 10 years ago, when the site was selected, three people stood at the intersection for a group of people. Now it can be measured with big data.

Capital brings prosperity, and there are also cases of "death" behind it. The last round of "Internet plus catering" snack brand was a smash hit, expanding all the way, but it was also broken.

Huang Taiji, who sells pancakes for more than 20 yuan, has become an online celebrity because of marketing events such as "driving a Mercedes-Benz to send pancakes" and "the beautiful boss's wife drives a sports car to send pancakes". At the peak, it took 65.438+0.8 billion yuan in Series B financing, which propped up a valuation of nearly 250 million dollars. Beijing Jianwai, Sanlitun and other places have its stores. However, the good times did not last long. 20 18 "Huang taiji" main company was included in the list of people who were executed for breach of trust because of the loan owed to suppliers of more than 400,000 yuan.

Another snack, "West Young Master" Chinese hamburger, began to harvest traffic from the founder's blog post "Why did I quit to sell Chinese hamburger", which attracted many rounds of financing from Jingwei China, Today Capital and Baifu Holdings. But its follow-up can't escape the story of the founder's parting ways, and the brand has fallen into silence and has not blossomed everywhere. Similar stories include cut beef brisket, instant noodle sashimi, answer milk tea ... rapid growth and rapid demise are repeated in the catering empire.

Gong Yinglong recalled: "The first batch of dead Internet catering brands were mostly due to blind expansion and insufficient catering genes. What do you mean, catering genes are not enough? It is not delicious and there is no persistence. At that time, we always joked about He Chang, the founder of Huang Taiji. Brother, if you sell a pancake fruit, you have to make it delicious. "

Capital brings barbaric growth, as well as product reshuffle and industry iteration. Hot money is rolling, Gong Yinglong predicted: "If there is no highest, there will be higher, and there will be a lot of high-value investments such as snacks and fast food."

It's hard to tell who will be the next Huang Taiji and who will be the next Yang Guofu and Sean. Capital is adding more condiments to Mala Tang, and the "taste" of this snack will become more complicated.

(At the request of the interviewee, Hu Xiaoyu is a pseudonym in the text)