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The story behind the business
Would you pay 68 to invite someone to cook a meal?
Written by / Star Evening
Editor / Li Kunlin
On October 25, an entrepreneur in Hunan who provided door-to-door cooking services became popular on the Internet. For a time, discussions about this new profession became heated.
Compared with the housekeeping industry in the past, more young people have begun to appear in the industry today, and they have explored new ways to address the pain points of contemporary young people’s lives. From home cooking, wardrobe storage, land reclamation and cleaning to live-in childcare, confinement, and babysitters, young people can be seen.
However, among them, some people are temporarily entering the industry due to the current livelihood pressure, and some people plan to use the courage of “post-00s” to rectify the workplace to change the status quo of the housekeeping industry, thus giving birth to more diversified services. In the future, when tired young people bump into this group of young housekeepers, there may be more chemical reactions.
“After half a year of unemployment, I became a home cook”
At 8 a.m. on Saturday morning, “post-95” Shang Yuan rode her battery car for ten minutes to reach her first employer of the day. Before entering the door, Shang Yuan took out the disposable shoe covers, headgear and masks prepared in advance from her bag, and then entered the door to start work after wearing them.
On the first day, the employer communicated with Shang Yuan about the requested five dishes and one soup, diced spicy chicken, sweet and sour pork ribs, braised beef brisket with potatoes, tomato eggs, stir-fried vegetables and stewed chicken soup. These dishes are not only common home-cooked dishes, but also fashionable. Yuan’s specialty dish that she has practiced well.
In order to cook as efficiently as possible, Shang Yuan has sorted out a set of procedures that conform to her habits. First, cook the rice, then finish the cutting and side dishes at one time, and then start cooking while the water is blanching. It takes a long time to cook. , and finally stir-fry stir-fry, home-cooked and seasonal vegetables.
“Usually, when communicating, I will ask what tools the employer has at home, and I will bring some of my own to use, which can also improve efficiency.” Although it took less than three months to start a home-cooking business, but Shang Yuan already has a few regulars in her hands, and her social platform is running smoothly. This job gives Shang Yuan the motivation to persevere.
Shangyuan’s service price list
Speaking of the reasons for entering this industry, Shang Yuan said she was helpless.
“At the end of last year, the entire real estate industry was getting worse and worse. Although the leaders did not directly lay off people, the people who stayed in the company had no business to do. Our basic salary was only a few hundred yuan, and even the commuting and catering expenses to work could not be covered. In the end, I had no choice but to leave by myself.” After losing her job, Shang Yuan interviewed several companies one after another, but she failed to get hired in the end. After several blows, she stayed at home for nearly half a year.
Until she saw on the social platform that there are many teams in other places operating the business of home cooking, she thought that her cooking skills were not bad, so she sent a few notes with the mentality of giving it a try. Big data pushes to people nearby. The next day, Shang Yuan received her first order.
Up to now, Shang Yuan has three regular customers, which guarantees at least ten orders per week. Shang Yuan’s quotation is also based on the regular prices on the Internet: the labor cost of four dishes is 68 yuan, the labor cost of six dishes is 88 yuan, the labor cost of ten dishes is 98 yuan, the dishwashing fee is 18 yuan, and the transportation fee beyond 5 kilometers is 20 yuan. Yuan from. In fact, at such a price, even if she can have three businesses a day, all month long, she can only earn a small salary, so Shang Yuan’s next plan is to set up her own team, and then set up a housekeeping company to undertake more Multi-business.
In just three months of service experience, Shang Yuan saw the huge demand for housekeeping business behind the young group. Shang Yuan mentioned to Zinc Scale what one of her regular customers said to her, “Assuming that three meals a day are taken out, the average daily cost is 60 yuan, and it will cost 1,800 yuan a month, but the actual situation may be more than that. I invite you to cook once every two days. I can eat it for two days by myself. The monthly fee is 1,020 yuan, and the cost of the food is 1,000 yuan. I can eat clean, hygienic and healthy home-cooked food for a little more than takeout. , I don’t think it’s a loss.”
With more and more young people holding such thoughts, Shang Yuan’s business may indeed usher in a period of rapid development.
How many businesses are supported by young people who do not enter the kitchen?
In the past, the housekeeping business was more about solving problems, such as taking care of young children or family members who lost their ability to take care of themselves, or completing some difficult cleaning and dust removal. However, the housekeeping services that young people need today are more to improve the quality of life. Even if their income is not high, they are willing to exchange money for more time to enrich their lives.
As far as cooking is concerned, “exquisite and lazy” young people have already spawned a variety of businesses.
The above-mentioned home cooking is one category, and various smart devices that appeared earlier are also anxious to seize the kitchen of young people. For example, the first commercial automatic cooking machine, along with the popularity of the “lazy economy” and social media marketing, has attracted brands such as Joyoung, Midea, Supor, Timco, Mibo, etc., and the market is showing a blowout trend. .
At the Tmall Double Eleven media communication conference in 2021, the data also showed that the smart cooking machine, the air fryer and the juice machine are jointly known as the “three treasures of the kitchen for young people”.
Due to the limited functions of the original intelligent cooking machine, it is almost limited to cooking. However, the reason why young people who are “kitchen black holes” do not cook by themselves is often not because they are unwilling to complete this action, but because they need to be prepared before cooking. A series of work and persuaded to quit. In their opinion, the situation of “cooking for two hours and eating for ten minutes” is a waste of time off work.
Therefore, later, Timco launched a one-stop solution, which can deliver pre-cut dishes and is equipped with an intelligent feeding system; Supor is equipped with a one-key cleaning function, which saves the tedious steps of subsequent cleaning.
However, the average price is 2,000 yuan per unit, and a smart cooking machine with a slightly richer function that sells for more than 4,000 yuan is indeed difficult to be easily selected by young people. Therefore, more convenient pre-made dishes have begun to move from the B-end to the C-end. The product types have gradually changed from simple dishes such as canned and quick-frozen foods to the refined direction of master dishes, and new industry formats have begun to emerge.
Data shows that after two years of rapid development, the market size is expected to exceed 410 billion yuan. If the growth rate of more than 20% is maintained, it will reach a trillion-dollar scale in the next five years.
Among them, players flocking to the track to share cakes include not only established food companies such as Anjing and Shuanghui, but also condiment companies such as Hengshun Vinegar and Haitian Flavor, and fresh food e-commerce platforms such as Hema Xiansheng and Daily Youxian. For chain catering brands such as Haidilao, Ziyan, and Xibei Youmian Village, the fierce competition in the pre-made food track is intensifying.
And these are only businesses in the field of cooking. Looking at the whole field of housekeeping, there are still plenty of business opportunities. Liu Cheng, who coincided with Shang Yuan’s entrepreneurial idea, acted early. At present, he specializes in cloud housekeeping services. According to him, cloud housekeeping mainly relies on online channels such as Meituan, Dianping, Xianyu, Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and Kuaishou, as well as online channels such as property management companies, building materials companies, and home improvement companies. Acquire customers, and then release the demand through WeChat group dispatching to complete the housekeeping service.
Supporting policies provided by Liu Cheng to franchisees
“In the past, families looking for housekeeping usually used word-of-mouth and acquaintances to introduce them, but now young people often choose to find them on the Internet. After we announced the information and fees of some service personnel, many young people will choose to close their eyes. The service personnel come to the door.” Liu Cheng revealed to Zinc Scale that he has accumulated 270 franchisees, covering 45 cities.
In his view, with the continuous expansion of young people’s demand for housekeeping, the future housekeeping market will have a long dividend period for a long time.
Improved products have become just in demand, and “housekeeping” has changed blood?
Some time ago, the topic of “Why are the ‘post-90s’ more and more reluctant to do housework” has been on the hot search on Weibo. Cleaning, washing dishes, and covering quilts seem to be the three mountains that young people cannot overcome. Some netizens directly said: “Isn’t technology changing life? Work takes up too much time, and the time dedicated to oneself is really limited. There is always a choice between relaxing or doing housework. So either use a vacuum cleaner or a dishwasher to improve Efficiency, or directly invite professional people to do professional things.”
Also in the third season of “The Man Doing Housework”, the topic of “whether the party who does not do the housework needs to pay some remuneration to the other party who does the housework” was also discussed, which caused a heated discussion. It is not difficult to see that young people have more views and choices when it comes to doing housework.
The “Man Doing Housework” series of variety shows sparked a lot of discussion
It is precisely because of such consumer demand that the rapid development of the domestic service industry has been promoted. According to the “Research Report on the Development Status and Investment Prospects of China’s Home Service Industry (2022-2029)” released by Guanyan Report Network, in recent years, with the continuous improvement of economic level, residents’ income has increased significantly, and people’s quality of life has increased. The demand for maternal and child services, elderly care services, and family services is increasing day by day.
Data show that in 2020, the size of my country’s domestic service market is 878.2 billion yuan, an increase of 25.91% over the same period in 2019. It is estimated that the size of my country’s domestic service market in 2021 will be 878.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.9%. Among them, the usage scenarios are constantly expanding. In addition to the traditional childcare, confinement and other service needs, the new generation of young people also have different needs for housekeeping services. Many young people are busy with work, so they will hire part-time workers to clean and even cook at home.
“Young people’s requirements for quality of life have spawned more and more improved products, such as various types of intelligent robots, as well as home cooking, wardrobe storage and even pet sitter services. The trend of younger domestic service workers is also Developed from such needs, young people understand the individual needs of young people better, so it is easier to run in.” Liu Cheng further talked about the trend of rejuvenation in the housekeeping industry to Zinc Scale.
With the emergence of a new generation of “housekeeping workers” such as Shang Yuan and Liu Cheng, the housekeeping industry may also accelerate into a more professional, personalized and standardized fast lane.
(At the request of the interviewee, both Shang Yuan and Liu Cheng are pseudonyms)