Read More《今年最流行的社交局，花200块一起“杀糕”》
Positive Reviews: “Cake – Killing Party” Reflects the Precise Solution to Young People’s Consumption and Social Needs, Activating a New Ecosystem of Multivariate Industry Collaboration
The popularity of the “Cake – Killing Party” is not accidental. It precisely hits the dual pain points of contemporary young people: “wanting to try new things but being limited by the budget” and “desiring social interaction but fearing pressure”. At the same time, it connects dessert consumption, offline social interaction, and industrial chain collaboration through an innovative model, showing strong market vitality.
First of all, the “Cake – Killing Party” realizes the “popularization” of high – priced dessert consumption through the “group – buying and sharing” model. As mentioned in the news, young people’s longing for “French desserts” and “high – quality cakes” is suppressed by the threshold of three or four hundred yuan per piece – even on their birthdays, they may not be willing to buy them. However, through a 20 – person group – buying in the “Cake – Killing Party”, the per – capita cost is reduced to one or two hundred yuan, making “tasting all the popular cakes” change from an “occasional luxury” to a “daily experience”. This logic of “getting the richest experience at the lowest cost” is essentially a practice of “consumption equality”: it breaks the traditional perception that “high unit price = high consumption threshold”, allows young people to access high – quality desserts at an affordable price, and meets their pursuit of a “refined life”. As a participant said, “It takes half a year to collect 10 flavors usually, but you can taste them all in 3 hours.” This improvement in efficiency directly hits the core needs of “dessert lovers”.
Secondly, the “Cake – Killing Party” constructs a new social scenario of “low – pressure and high – interaction”, providing an ideal offline connection method for young people. Among the Generation Z who are both “socially anxious” and “desiring social interaction”, traditional social activities (such as dinners and board games) often require actively finding topics and exposing private information. In the “Cake – Killing Party”, “cake” serves as a natural medium, concentrating the social focus on “taste evaluation” and “cake – cutting cooperation”. In the news, participants broke the ice through natural conversations like “This matcha has a long aftertaste” and “The cheese is too greasy”. The process of researching templates and helping each other when cutting the cake is more like a “collective creation”. After the event, participants can freely choose whether to keep in touch. This kind of “flexible” social relationship not only meets the need for offline connection but also avoids the burden of excessive social interaction, which is in line with young people’s expectation of “relaxed social interaction”. More notably, details such as spontaneously cleaning the table and sharing anti – greasy food during the event show the kind interaction among strangers. This atmosphere of “gathering purely for the sake of delicious food” becomes a warm footnote for young people to fight against the “atomized society”.
Finally, the “Cake – Killing Party” drives the collaborative development of the industrial chain including dessert shops, shared spaces, coffee and catering, giving rise to new business opportunities. As reported in the news, the venue owner actively adjusted the drinks (replacing them with oolong tea to relieve greasiness) and cooperated with coffee shops to offer discounts; cake shops attracted customers with the selling point of “special sessions”; the group leader changed from an “enthusiast” to an “event organizer” and even optimized the process with reference to AI solutions. This “demand – driven supply” chain connects the originally scattered consumption scenarios: dessert shops get bulk orders and exposure through the “Cake – Killing Party”, shared spaces improve the utilization rate of the venue by hosting the event, and coffee and catering increase their income through supporting services. More importantly, this model provides an opportunity for niche dessert shops to “break through the circle” – high – priced cakes that originally relied on “single – point consumption” can be experienced by more people through the “Cake – Killing Party”, which may be converted into repeat purchases or word – of – mouth communication, forming a consumption closed – loop of “trying – recommending – repurchasing”.
Negative Reviews: Hidden Worries Behind the Sweetness – Health Risks, Model Limitations, and Commercialization Challenges to Be Solved
Although the “Cake – Killing Party” is very attractive, the health risks, model sustainability, and commercialization risks behind it still need to be vigilant.
Firstly, the health risks of excessive sugar intake cannot be ignored. As mentioned in the news, participants “ate almost a whole year’s worth of cakes in 3 hours”. By the fifth or sixth kind of cake, they could hardly bear the sweetness and even needed salty food to “rescue” themselves. According to the “Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents”, the daily added sugar intake of adults should not exceed 50 grams (preferably less than 25 grams), while the sugar content of an ordinary cream cake is usually between 30 – 50 grams. The sugar intake from 10 cakes far exceeds the daily standard. Long – term participation in the “Cake – Killing Party” may lead to health problems such as obesity, abnormal blood sugar, and dental caries. More notably, the temporary “anti – greasy” measures (such as salty food and tea) during the event can only relieve the immediate discomfort and cannot offset the overall impact of excessive sugar intake. If the “Cake – Killing Party” continues to be popular, it may give rise to a consumption tendency of “ignoring health for the sake of novelty”, which goes against the current mainstream trend of “healthy diet”.
Secondly, the sustainability of the event model is facing a test. The current popularity of the “Cake – Killing Party” largely stems from the “fresh experience”: the first time to cut a cake, the first time to share desserts with strangers, and the first time to use a score sheet for “professional tasting”. However, as the number of participations increases and the freshness fades, if the model still stays within the single framework of “group – buying + sharing + scoring”, users may get bored. In addition, the event organization cost is relatively high – the group leader needs to coordinate product selection, venue, logistics, and even learn cake – cutting skills (such as Momo in the news buying a cake – cutting knife and referring to AI templates). It is difficult to maintain the non – commercial “for the love of it” model in the long run. If more organizers turn to commercialization in the future (such as charging service fees), it may lead to the transfer of costs to participants, or the reduction of product selection quality to cut costs (such as choosing low – price cakes instead of high – price popular ones), ultimately damaging the user experience.
Thirdly, the lack of trust and norms in the commercialization process may lead to risks. Currently, the “Cake – Killing Party” relies on the personal reputation of the group leader: financial transparency (such as Momo not charging extra fees and publicizing the total price), careful product selection (such as “covering all the popular cake shops in the city”), and detailed processes (such as preparing score sheets and cake – cutting templates). However, when more people enter the market for profit, problems may occur, such as product selection being profit – oriented (choosing cakes with high commissions but average quality), irregular management of deposits (such as misappropriating deposits), and potential safety hazards in the venue (such as sub – standard hygiene in the shared space). The news does not mention industry norms or third – party supervision. Without constraints, the rights and interests of participants (such as food safety and financial safety) may be damaged. For example, if a group of people have diarrhea due to improper cake storage in a “Cake – Killing Party”, the lack of a liability – definition and compensation mechanism may lead to disputes, which will ultimately damage the reputation of the entire model.
Suggestions for Entrepreneurs: Focus on “Experience Upgrade + Standardized Operation” to Build a Sustainable Sweet Ecosystem
For entrepreneurs targeting the “Cake – Killing Party” or similar social consumption models, they can optimize from the following aspects:
Balance “novelty” and “health” and upgrade the experience design. To address the problem of excessive sugar, low – sugar and low – fat cake options can be introduced (such as using sugar substitutes and reducing the proportion of cream), or the number of cakes in a single event can be controlled (such as 6 – 8 kinds), and the portion of each kind can be adjusted (such as a 10 – person group – buying instead of 20). At the same time, healthy supporting items can be added: providing anti – greasy tea (such as the oolong tea mentioned in the news), low – sugar snacks (such as nuts and fruits), and even inviting a nutritionist to popularize health knowledge about desserts on – site to enhance the “health added value” of the event. In addition, the interaction links can be enriched: besides scoring, content such as “on – site explanation of production techniques by a pastry chef” and “DIY cake decoration” can be added to enhance the sense of participation and knowledge, and avoid the monotony of the model.
Establish standardized service standards to maintain user trust. If the goal is commercialization, the charging model (such as venue fees and service fees) needs to be clearly defined and publicized in advance to avoid hidden consumption; when selecting products, the qualifications of the cake shops (such as food safety certification) and the source of raw materials (such as imported cream and organic fruits) should be made public to ensure controllable quality; a third – party platform can be introduced to manage the deposits, and the settlement can be made after the event to avoid the risk of fund misappropriation. Referring to Momo’s experience in the news, attention should be paid to detailed services (such as professional cake – cutting tools and beautiful plating) to enhance users’ perception of “professionalism” and thus establish long – term trust.
Deepen industrial chain cooperation to build a win – win ecosystem. Cooperate with high – quality dessert shops to launch “exclusive models for the Cake – Killing Party” (such as small – portion tasting packs and limited – edition flavors), which can not only reduce costs but also increase uniqueness; sign long – term agreements with shared spaces and coffee shops to get venue discounts or beverage concessions to increase the profit margin; use social media (such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin) to spread event content (such as cake evaluation videos and interaction clips of participants) to attract traffic for cooperative merchants, forming a positive cycle of “events bring traffic – merchants offer discounts – users are more satisfied”.
Pay attention to the iteration of user needs and keep the model innovative. Regularly collect feedback from participants (such as through questionnaires and community discussions), and adjust the types of cake lists (such as season – limited models and festival – themed models) and event forms (such as night – time Cake – Killing Party and outdoor cake – killing picnics). In response to the post – event community activity (such as participants continuously sharing food information in the news), services can be extended: organize “bread tasting sessions” and “dessert making classes”, or launch a membership system (such as exchanging cake vouchers for the accumulated number of participations) to extend the user life cycle and transform the “single event” into a “long – term community”.
The popularity of the “Cake – Killing Party” essentially reflects the concentrated outbreak of young people’s demand for “small and beautiful” consumption and “light social interaction”. It is not only a mirror reflecting the consumption logic of contemporary young people of “wanting both cost – effectiveness and a sense of ceremony”, but also an entry point revealing the business law of “demand – driven innovation”. For entrepreneurs, the key to seizing this trend lies in centering on user needs and finding a balance between “sweet experience” and “health responsibility”, as well as between “innovative model” and “standardized operation”, so as to make this “sweet trend” more stable and long – lasting.
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