This is the common situation we face today Industry volume shrinkage is a fact that is no longer worth debating. But if you ask frontline beer distributors, they will likely tell you that the word "shrinkage" cannot describe their feeling at all. It is a suffocating sense of being attacked from both sides— ▲ Upstream giants want profits, squeezing your gross margin year after year and increasing your inventory; ▼ Downstream restaurant terminals want fees—the money for buying stores, promotions, and displays—every cent of which must be advanced. ⏳ Restaurant payment cycles are getting longer, all your money is tied up in goods, and cash flow is at risk at any moment. Image source: Xiaohongshu @啊薛 Beer distributors in the restaurant channel are especially struggling. You pay high market fees to "buy stores," invest heavy assets to maintain a ground promotion team, and bear long payment cycles. In the end, when you calculate the accounts, the profit is so thin it can barely cover operating costs. Relying solely on the agency rights of a single big brand can no longer support the increasingly high operating costs. Those bosses who still hope to live off one big single product for a lifetime—this era will no longer wait for them. So, can you really survive this winter by stubbornly pushing through? In a zero-sum game where the winner takes all, where does growth come from? Is growth still possible? The restaurant channel is still your biggest asset Many distributors, having suffered, begin to think the restaurant channel is a big pit. This judgment is wrong. Looking further ahead, you will find: among all channel types, only the restaurant scenario integrates brand communication, product display, product experience, on-site purchase, on-site consumption, and high-frequency repurchase into one. Restaurants are the top battlefield for FMCG to build brand awareness and establish consumer recognition. This is a "multi-in-one" live target, irreplaceable. The problem is not the channel itself; the problem is that you use only one single product—beer—to support a dedicated restaurant ground promotion team and bear all the heavy assets of this channel. One category cannot support such heavy channel costs. This is not your fault; it is a structural flaw of the single-category approach. The value of the restaurant channel has never disappeared—it is the approach that needs upgrading. Therefore, we must propose the core concept of the "second battlefield." The second battlefield: not a choice, but a must-answer question There is only one answer to break the deadlock: open a second battlefield, using multi-category symbiosis to counter single-category competition. The logic is simple—bring in beverages, water, and even baijiu to form a strong product matrix with beer. The more product categories you cooperate with the terminal owner, the larger your business share in that store; as your average transaction value rises, your customer relationship deepens, and the relationship becomes more stable. More critically: multi-category directly shares the channel operating costs of that expensive ground promotion team. The cost structure that was pressing on you suddenly becomes profitable. But there are two doors that must be crossed: First door: It must be "Beer+", never "+Beer" Don't forget your base. In restaurant alcohol consumption, beer often accounts for over 70%. Beer is your core weapon; other categories are support. So, what you "+" must be complementary products, never substitutes. ✅ Right categories: products that cater to those at the table who can't drink beer, or that let beer drinkers enjoy themselves even more. ❌ Wrong categories: products that make people who want to drink beer switch to something else—this is internal friction, digging your own grave. For example, Mingren Soda Water is an extremely precise scenario complementary case— Replacing alcohol with water, promoting alcohol with water, integrating alcohol and water, a two-way pursuit. Drinking is a joyful atmosphere; soda water conforms to and amplifies that joy. "Beer + Mingren" becomes a combined consumption habit for the whole table, not a life-and-death struggle of single products. Second door: Abandon the simple and crude old approach What is the old method of selling beer? Buying stores, pushing promotions, and setting up displays. Using this logic to sell your newly introduced beverages or water? It basically won't work. Different categories have completely different consumer decision-making logic at the terminal. To play the "Beer+" category, you must understand scenario marketing— Study why consumers pick up this bottle of water at this table: Is it to relieve spiciness? To replace alcohol? Health consciousness? Embed marketing actions into the consumer's dining experience, rather than just putting up a poster or setting up a display. Once you thoroughly understand the scenario, repurchase naturally occurs, and sell-through no longer depends on promotional fees. See the essence of the terminal, choose the right complementary weapons, and reshape your scenario marketing capabilities—these are the three winning steps for the second battlefield. On March 17, we have the path ready for major beer distributors What is said above is not a new concept, not a pie in the sky. But from "knowing this" to "actually doing it," what is missing is an executable path and a few real cases that have actually worked. On the afternoon of March 17, during the [CFC China FMCG Conference] in Chengdu, New Distribution, together with Mingren Soda Water, will hold a closed-door meeting tailored for major beer distributors in the restaurant channel—the "Beer+" Scenario Growth Closed-Door Meeting. This closed-door meeting will be clearly explained in four segments: [Segment 1: Momentum and Breakthrough 14:10–15:30]

"New Consumer World and New Opportunities for Beer Channels"—Hou Xiaohai, COO of CP Group China

"From Product Distributor to Scenario Operator"—Liu Chunxiong, Professor at Zhengzhou University, Deputy Director of Scenario Marketing Research Institute

"Opening the Second Battlefield Is the Only Way for Beer Distributors to Break Through"—Chen Siting, Executive Director of New Distribution [Segment 2: Opportunities and Cases 15:30–16:20] "Mingren's 'Beer+' Ecological Strategy and Scenario Operation"—Tian Dongjian, Deputy Director of National Marketing for Mingren Soda Water

"From Beer to 'Beer+': How We Achieved Incremental Growth"—Real case breakdown by benchmark distributor representatives [Segment 3: Practical Breakdown 16:20–16:50] "Scenario Marketing: Mingren's Integrated Combat of Steps, Space, and Special"—Gong Fanggang, Director of Scenario Marketing Research Institute [Segment 4: In-depth Exchange 16:50–17:20] Free discussion · Precise matching · In-depth Q&A—Tian Dongjian + the entire Mingren sales team After the meeting: Invited on-site observation, 18:30–20:30, immersive experience of the "Beer+" scenario. What do you take away from this closed-door meeting? Not PPTs, not theories. It's what you can use when you go back.

  • A judgment framework for "Beer+" multi-category product selection, knowing what can be added, what cannot, and why.
  • A scenario marketing action manual that has been successfully run in multiple cities; Mingren has stepped on all the pits with its own money and directly tells you how to fight.
  • At least one benchmark distributor case similar to your situation, hearing firsthand how incremental growth was achieved.
  • The opportunity to communicate face-to-face with Mingren's core team, discuss cooperation models, and ask your most real questions.
  • The practical methodology of Gong Fanggang, Director of the Scenario Marketing Research Institute, on how "Integrated Combat of Steps, Space, and Special" is actually implemented. This is a limited-seat closed-door meeting, open only to quality beer distributors in the restaurant channel. Not everyone can enter. The easiest road is often downhill. The era of relying on one brand, one category, and one old approach to the end has turned the page. But this is not a reason for pessimism; it is the starting point of differentiation. Those who see the direction first and run through the second battlefield first will open a real gap with their peers in this round of reshuffling. Cross over, and you will be the winner of the next cycle. On the afternoon of March 17, at the Jinjiang Hall, 5th Floor, Chengdu Century City International Convention Center, we are waiting for you.