A high-end breakfast shop that sells pancakes for 20 yuan each, finally couldn't bear it anymore.

On January 10th, the last Peach Blossom Village in Guangdong was completely closed."This "Top Luxury Breakfast Shop", which used to be located next to LV, had over 40 stores nationwide at its peak, but now there are only 4 stores still operating normally in the whole country.One of them is the "headquarters" in Shanghai, two are in Chengdu, and the remaining one is in Xiamen.What's even more lamentable is that according to enterprise search data, the affiliated company of Peach Blossom Village, Shanghai Juanxiang Catering Management Co., Ltd., has been marked with labels such as restrictions on high consumption, equity freeze, and executed person.Only four former internet celebrities remainIn 2014, the first store of Peach Blossom Village was opened on Tai Zhou Road in Shanghai.This store is a two-story glass house with an area of 400 square meters. It has a retro industrial style from the 70s and 80s, creating a refreshing dining environment with a touch of artistry.However, as a breakfast shop, the store's location next to the luxury brand LV was more eye-catching than its dishes and decor.In 2016, a popular marketing article titled "He opened a pancake and fried dough sticks shop next to LV, which became popular in Shanghai, and internet celebrities were willing to queue for two hours just to have a taste" made Peach Blossom Village one of the hottest restaurant brands that year.Peach Blossom Village chose the "high-end" route from the beginning. It not only selected a location next to a luxury brand, but also had a relatively high average spending per customer. Its fried dough sticks sold for 6 yuan each, buns for 13 yuan each, and pancakes for 25 yuan each, making them luxury items in the breakfast industry.
However, this did not stop consumers from being enthusiastic about Peach Blossom Village and pursuing it.According to media reports at the time, Peach Blossom Village achieved the scene of turning tables 15 times a day and consumers queuing for two hours to dine there.Capital has a keen sense of smell, and financing gave Peach Blossom Village the courage to expand wildly.In 2017, after completing the first round of financing, Peach Blossom Village planned to establish 80 traditional stores and 500 standard stores across the country within 3-5 years.In 2018, with the popularity of internet celebrity dining, Peach Blossom Village even opened up franchising opportunities and the number of stores reached its peak.Behind this success, there is no lack of the credit given to the brand's storytelling.First of all, the so-called "village" originally referred to the villages built for the people and their dependents who migrated from mainland China to Taiwan in the earlier years. Taiwan has over 900 such villages, with the most in Taoyuan County.So, the term "village" represents the cross-strait friendship and nostalgia for the past.In any Peach Blossom Village store, there are visible traces of sentimentality. They write poems on the bottom of bowls, "I am willing to spend my whole life for you", and open a "Little Village" area for children to experience how soy milk is made.As Peach Blossom Village puts it, "Every aspect of the restaurant, every corner should be a unique scenery, with a touch of fun, so that the restaurant has the internet celebrity attribute of being a topic in itself. This kind of restaurant is suitable for the internet age."Under the "nostalgic marketing" approach, consumers really considered soy milk and fried dough sticks to be "reasonably expensive".In 2018, Peach Blossom Village's annual revenue exceeded 66 million yuan.Initially, as one of the earlier internet celebrity dining brands, Peach Blossom Village did benefit from a wave of popularity. Many other restaurants followed suit, and various unique internet celebrity restaurants sprouted up like mushrooms.However, fortunes rise and fall with marketing.Peach Blossom Village did not continue to create hit products. In the early stages of brand marketing, they used soft marketing to elevate rice balls, soy milk, and other common snacks to a higher level, giving consumers a reason to try something new. However, they did not launch any differentiated products subsequently.The lack of continuous product innovation may be the main reason why Peach Blossom Village lacks core competitiveness.Looking at Peach Blossom Village's menu, its flagship products have basically remained the same since it opened several years ago, still offering soy milk, fried dough sticks, pancakes, and rice balls. The variety is very limited.After the internet celebrity effect faded, consumers' curiosity and desire to try new things disappeared. The brand's popularity weakened, and when the brand cannot provide consumers with a continuous sense of freshness, repeat customer rates will be greatly reduced. A once-popular internet celebrity restaurant is likely to reach its end.Starting from 2019, news of Peach Blossom Village closing one after another began to emerge, and at this time, it also encountered the COVID-19 pandemic, making its heavy investment in stores a burden.Subsequently, Peach Blossom Village drifted further away from its initial heyday.The decline of ramen with a sudden turnCan the strategy of making everyday fried dough sticks high-end and moving from roadside stalls to shopping malls really work?In the past two years, beef noodle shops, such as Chen Xianggui, Ma Ji Yong, and Zhang Lala, have also opened up in CBD areas and raised the price of beef noodles to 26 yuan per bowl.The new generation of Lanzhou ramen represented by these brands once swept the dining tables of young people in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.Almost every shopping center in major cities can have 1-2 Lanzhou ramen shops.