Casual Dining restaurants are a step up from eateries, offering table service and a comfortable environment without the frills or expense of fine dining. Many successful casual dining outlets are part of restaurant groups, that hold multiple brands and concepts under one umbrella company. The channel is desperate to expand and are doing so by replicating successful concepts (e.g. Blue Frog), tweaking existing offers (e.g. El Luchador & El Luchito), inventing new brands (Hooked) or acquiringexisting brands. These venues tend to spend big on property and fit out, with a growing demand from customers for experiential dining that provide multiple occasions for selfies and attractive food snaps. They are also big on marketing, most have their own marketing departments and are active on social media in creating content, running events, specials and promotions.
WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO CASUAL DINING BUYERS IN CHINA?
ON TREND & SCALABLE: This is a high growth channel; many groups have the money to expand quickly or to buy other chains, so if you want to sell them food we imagine they would be looking for modern, on trend concepts that they could potentially own as exclusive, as well as being scalable as they expand.
DISTRIBUTION: Most of these groups have a distribution center or centralised kitchen, but still do the majority of food prep on site. Products with a proven track record of stable regional distribution will be of value for the group as they expand across China.
VALUE FOR MONEY. It’s a particularly tough time for this sector, they put up a lot of money up front and are constantly competing to stay relevant and keep up with customer expectations. Brands who can illustrate menu builds and show venues where the value comes from will be better received.
MARKETING: These groups all have marketing departments and are constantly promoting. Be prepared to offer a level of support to stay in their good books or you may be trumped by someone else who is putting in the extra effort when it comes to seasonal menus, launches and events.
