Who drinks jasmine yogurt in the county town?, Controversy of 30 to 40 yuan per cup | Yogurt | County town
"The lowest price option in the new product questionnaire is 68 yuan," "Drinking for 5 days and gaining 6 pounds"... This summer, accompanied by controversy and questioning, the internet celebrity's freshly made yogurt brand - Jasmine Yogurt has frequently made it to the hot search list.
In fact, Jasmine Yogurt has been established for nearly a decade, and has been lukewarm in the early years. It only began to expand rapidly after opening franchise stores in the past two years, and has signed more than 1600 stores so far.
At present, in the layout of Jasmine Yogurt stores, the proportion of fourth tier and below cities is still relatively low, and Jasmine Yogurt believes that there is "huge potential for a sinking market.". According to its official website, in county-level cities, the monthly revenue of a jasmine yogurt store can reach around 150000 to 200000 yuan.
Open 300 stores per month
Jasmine yogurt specializes in "yogurt+fruit", with an average consumption of nearly 30 yuan per person. Among them, the Avocado Yogurt Grandma Xi series is a signature product of jasmine yogurt, claiming to sell 25 million cups per year.
Jasmine yogurt belongs to Shanghai Boyi Catering Management Co., Ltd., which was established in 2014 with a registered capital of 500000 yuan. As early as the establishment of Shanghai Boyi, Zhao Bohua, the founder of Jasmine Yogurt, opened his first store in Lingang, Shanghai, and subsequently opened multiple directly operated stores in other regions of Shanghai. In 2019, jasmine yogurt began to enter first tier cities.
According to public reports, in 2020, a franchisee named Gu Hao approached Zhao Bohua, confirmed his stake in Jasmine Yogurt, and divided his responsibilities: Zhao Bohua focused on products, and Gu Hao was responsible for finding ways to expose the products - taking over the company to form a team, polishing the supply chain, operations, training, investment promotion, etc. At present, Gu Hao is the CEO of Jasmine Yogurt, and he and Zhao Bohua hold 45% and 55% shares of Shanghai Boyi, respectively.
Jasmine yogurt is also introduced on its official website. In 2020, the overall team members of Jasmine yogurt were upgraded, and the supply chain, market and other systems were upgraded.
After Gu Hao joined, Jasmine Yogurt opened its brand franchise in 2021, and its stores rapidly expanded thereafter. According to the official website, as of July 2023, the total number of jasmine yogurt stores has exceeded a thousand. On July 18th, a staff member responsible for franchising at the headquarters of Jasmine Yogurt revealed that the company has signed over 1600 stores, including those that have already opened and those in preparation.
According to data from Narrow Door Meal Eye on August 2nd, there are currently 1390 stores of jasmine yogurt, of which 1073 have been opened since 2023. Data shows that in May, June, and July of this year, the number of monthly stores for jasmine yogurt reached 334, 259, and 121, respectively.
▲ Screenshot of the narrow door dining eye WeChat mini program
At the same time, jasmine yogurt also quickly became popular. As of August 3, Xiaohong had more than 70000 notes about jasmine yogurt in her book, and there were many fancy card punching videos on Tiktok, such as "What are fairies drinking?".
According to the "2023CCFA New Tea Beverage Innovation Case Collection" released by the China Chain Store Association in April this year, from October 2022 to February 2023, the transaction volume of three official broadcasts of jasmine yogurt increased from the initial 4.22 million yuan to 15.68 million yuan.
Gu Hao once revealed that it is estimated that the number of stores for jasmine yogurt may reach 1300-1600 by the end of the year, without setting a specific target.
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Only professional franchisees can apply to open a store?
The rapid expansion of jasmine yogurt is inseparable from the support of franchisees.
According to the official website information, one of the franchise conditions for jasmine yogurt is that franchisees who have engaged in beverage and catering are given priority. When Zhongxin Jingwei consulted the staff of the Jasmine Yogurt headquarters as a franchisee, they repeatedly emphasized that only those who have opened tea or catering stores in the local area can apply for franchise, otherwise they will not be considered. "We will check the relevant business license of your previous store."
As for franchise fees, they specifically include brand usage fees, consulting and guidance service fees, personnel training fees, cooperation deposits, etc. Taking a 30 square meter standard store as an example, without including store rent and transfer fees, the initial budget would be at least 200000 yuan.
According to the staff at the headquarters of Jasmine Yogurt, the franchise fee for Jasmine Yogurt can reach a gross profit margin of around 60% and the payback period is 6 to 10 months.
According to public reports, in recent years, the recycling cycle of ancient tea, Baidao tea, Shuyi Shaoxian grass, and Shanghai aunties often takes more than a year and a half. Why can jasmine yogurt recoup so quickly?
"The specific situation depends on the operation of the store, and it is not certain, but on average, it takes us 6 to 10 months to recover the cost," said the staff member.
According to Zhongxin Jingwei, in addition to the above-mentioned expenses, the headquarters of Jasmine Yogurt will also withdraw a portion of its revenue from franchisees. "On a monthly basis, if the turnover is below 100000 yuan, no deduction will be made. If it is above 100000 yuan, 1% of the turnover will be deducted, with a maximum of 3000 yuan per month."
When asked about the average monthly turnover of a single store, the staff mentioned above did not directly answer, only stating that each store is different and the difference is significant, and there is no exact data available.
Song Jun is a regional agent of jasmine yogurt in a suburban area of Beijing. He told China News Service that the sales of jasmine yogurt in the Beijing market are good, and Beijing can account for half of the top ten stores in terms of national sales. "A well done store can achieve monthly revenue of several hundred thousand yuan."
According to data from Narrow Door Meal Eye, as of August 2nd, there are a total of 47 stores of jasmine yogurt in Beijing, accounting for 3.38%.
The franchisee of one jasmine yogurt in Shangqiu, Henan mentioned that he has opened a total of three jasmine yogurt stores, among which the good stores have a monthly turnover of nearly 400000 yuan and are currently in a profitable state.
However, the franchisee also emphasizes the importance of store location. "In the first month of opening, there are usually activities that are not very profitable, and expenses such as rent, labor, and utilities need to be considered."
County level stores earn 200000 yuan per month?
According to data from Narrow Door Meal Eye, 18.13% of the existing stores of Jasmine Yogurt are located in first tier cities, 28.63% are located in new first tier cities, 20.43% are located in second tier cities, 19.42% are located in third tier cities, and the proportion of stores in fourth tier and below cities is 13.38%.
In the view of jasmine yogurt, the potential for the sinking market is enormous. Zhongxin Jingwei has noticed that Jasmine Yogurt has set up a franchise Q&A section on its official website. When answering the question "The product price is high, I don't know if it meets the local consumption level", Jasmine Yogurt stated that its product price positioning is determined based on the consumption big data of the beverage industry and comprehensive analysis and evaluation after market research. The price of the beverage is also gradually moving towards a stage of high quality and price with market development, which is generally accepted by the general public. Therefore, franchisees don't have to worry too much about price issues.
Jasmine yogurt also mentioned that based on the operating situation of existing county-level city stores, the monthly turnover data is around 150000 to 200000 yuan, and county-level cities have low comprehensive costs, large gross profit margins, and great potential for development.
According to data from Narrow Gate Meal Eye, as of August 2nd, there are 52 local stores of jasmine yogurt, accounting for 3.74% of all stores.
A franchisee revealed to China News Service that in Luyi County, Zhoukou City, Henan Province, the first open jasmine yogurt store is doing well with a daily turnover of 5000 yuan, which is not a problem. "This store mainly has a good location, and currently there is only one jasmine yogurt store in Luyi. If there is only one store in a place, business is easy to do." According to the franchisee, in the local area, most of the people who drink jasmine yogurt are young people, accounting for about 70%.
Rugao City is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province. In April this year, the first jasmine yogurt store in the area opened. At that time, Li Jie waited for an hour and a half to taste a sip of jasmine yogurt as she wished. "When it first opened, there were many people, and after two or three weeks, it became deserted. Now there is basically no queuing situation anymore."
Li Jie is a local elementary school teacher with a monthly salary of around 5500 yuan. She told China News Service that there are not many colleagues around her who usually drink jasmine yogurt, and most of them are young teachers trying it out.
There is currently a jasmine yogurt store in Jianhu County, Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province. According to local consumer Wang Le, most of the customers who come to buy it are young ladies and students.
Controversy persists
The rapidly expanding jasmine yogurt has recently made frequent headlines and has been embroiled in public opinion due to controversies over high prices and issues with product ingredients.
On July 7, the official WeChat official account of jasmine yogurt launched a questionnaire on the new Durian product of Cat Mountain King, which is planned to be launched in August, to collect the price acceptance range of consumers. The price options given were 68 yuan, 88 yuan, 108 yuan and "I don't buy it", which also meant that the new product started at the lowest price of 68 yuan.
Subsequently, the topic of "the lowest price option of the questionnaire for the new product of jasmine yogurt is 68 yuan" caused a heated discussion, and netizens left messages on the official WeChat official account of jasmine yogurt saying "68 yuan starts, is there no one you love in the world?" "Are you serious? Can't afford it" "Would rather pay more to eat durian directly".
Faced with doubts from netizens, Jasmine Yogurt replied that it will make adjustments based on everyone's opinions and suggestions. The relevant person in charge of the headquarters of Jasmine Yogurt has also responded to the media that the pricing strategy of Jasmine Yogurt is not high, and the product price is between 20 yuan and 40 yuan, which is very broad and can be applied to more consumer choices.
At a time when jasmine yogurt is controversial due to its high pricing, a social media report circulating raw materials for jasmine yogurt shows that in addition to fruits such as avocado, its products also use ingredients called "Ueno Mando brand ice cream".
The ingredients of the ice-cream show that they contain "refined vegetable oil, glucose syrup, emulsifier, stabilizer" and other ingredients. Because they are similar to the ingredients of vegetable fat powder, netizens also questioned the "suspected use of vegetable fat powder", and roast that "jasmine yogurt should be called milkshakes".
Regarding this, Zhongxin Jingwei once consulted a jasmine yogurt store in Wuhan as a consumer, and the relevant staff replied that the formula of jasmine yogurt contains fresh milk, yogurt, and fruit, and does not use vegetable fat powder. "Our family makes milkshakes and we don't use plant-based fat powder."
On July 15th, Jasmine Yogurt also publicly responded through its official Weibo account that its yogurt comes from Ulanqab and the company is a strategic partner of Inner Mongolia Langge Dairy's grassland yogurt cooperation. Ice cream raw milk comes from KANPAK LLC Xingzhou Kangpaike, which is the raw material for soft ice cream, hard ice cream, milk caps and other products. The milk slurry used fully meets the national requirements for food safety.
Zhu Danpeng, Vice President of Guangdong Food Safety Promotion Association and Food Industry Analyst, introduced to China News Service that in 2023, while the coffee and tea beverage markets are experiencing explosive recovery, they are also facing fierce price wars. More and more new coffee brands are launching low-priced marketing campaigns, breaking the long-standing pattern of a single cup costing over 15 yuan. In the milk tea market, Xicha, Naixue and others have been lowering prices since 2022, with most products bidding farewell to the "3" prefix and shifting towards products priced between 9-19 yuan.
On the contrary, jasmine yogurt still maintains a high market price. Zhongxin Jingwei saw on the delivery platform that the original avocado series of jasmine yogurt products start at 30 yuan, some durian milkshakes start at 40 yuan, and most other products are also priced above 25 yuan.
Gu Hao has publicly stated that the emergence of Heytea and Naixue has led to the rise of the new tea beverage industry. Consumers are gradually accepting higher prices to pay for better quality and taste. In addition, the tea beverage industry is becoming more competitive, and differentiated single product categories have emerged, which has led to the popularity of jasmine yogurt in the past two years.
In Zhu Danpeng's view, the ultra-high end positioning will not only bring market opportunities to jasmine yogurt, but also continuously test the stability of jasmine yogurt product quality, food safety assurance, and service system matching. Whether it can maintain high growth depends on how Jasmine Yogurt ensures the stable operation of these links and maintains user stickiness.
