China's catering segment develops strongly

Our reporter Wang Xiaoxuan

At present, the market size of China's prefabricated vegetable industry is about 210 billion yuan.

C-end prepared food ushered in a period of accelerated consumption

Prefabricated dishes refer to finished or semi-finished products made of agricultural, livestock, poultry and aquatic products as raw materials and pre-processed with various accessories (such as cutting, stirring, pickling, rolling, molding, and seasoning).

The "Report" stated that compared with overseas developed markets, China's prepared vegetable industry as a whole is still relatively backward, and still has the characteristics of small sales area, obvious geographical characteristics, many participants, low industry concentration, and few enterprises above designated size

China's prefabricated vegetable market mainly includes four categories: frozen raw, frozen cooked, refrigerated raw and refrigerated cooked

The "Report" shows that the growth drivers of the prefabricated vegetable market mainly include the continuous improvement of the catering chain rate and the penetration rate of takeaway

Faced with the increase in the penetration rate of restaurant take-out, pre-made dishes can effectively improve the cost structure of catering companies

Pre-made dishes can better offset the rise in rent and labor costs for catering companies

The US and Japanese pre-prepared vegetable markets have produced many companies with a revenue of 10 billion yuan.

Group meal market concentration is expected to increase

Group meals are one of the important types of catering structure in China.

According to statistics from the China Hotel Association, the scale of China's group meal market continued to grow from 2016 to 2020.

China's group catering enterprises are mainly divided into two modes: entering party A and group catering

According to the survey data of China Cuisine Association and Yiou Think Tank, among the top 100 group catering companies, the ratio of enterprises operating in the traditional mode of entering Party A and the new group catering operation mode is 9:1.

The market concentration of the group meal industry in China is relatively low

Although China's group meal industry is developing well at present, there is a problem of high cost and low profit

In terms of the differentiation of group meals, various group meal companies, including corporate canteens, can see that there are students and corporate employees posting information about their canteen meals on various Internet platforms

In the domestic group meal industry, some leading companies have begun to build chain brands.

Other catering market segments to pay attention to

After the central government promulgated the "eight regulations" in 2012, the traditional non-standard and excessively extravagant dinner market suffered a huge impact
.
However, in recent years, China's private economy has developed vigorously, the formal dinner market is booming, and some dinner brands have developed well
.
According to on-the-spot research, the common characteristics of such catering brands include exquisite decoration and thoughtful service, but they are not like the obviously high prices of traditional dinner restaurants
.
At the same time, when dining in these restaurants, the training standards for service staff will also indicate that consumers are reminded to order in moderation to avoid extravagance and waste
.
Based on the above observations, the "Report" believes that with the development of the private economy, the formal dinner market is also a catering track with reasonable room for growth
.

The elderly meal market The aging of China's population has become a topic of social concern.
Since 1953, the proportion of China's elderly population over the age of 65 has increased from 4%+ to 13.
5%, and the elderly population has become an important part of Chinese society in terms of proportion.
group
.

　　The aging population also has its own unique needs for catering
.
According to the survey, the elderly population is quite different from other age groups in the control of oil and salt in the food, the freshness of the ingredients, the softness and hardness of the food entrance, and the food related to their own diseases
.
In a market with a rising population base, there is a high probability that there will be companies that solve its pain points
.

　　Up to now, for the elderly meal market, only some semi-public stores such as "community elderly canteens" exist in the field research, and there are few catering brands that specialize in understanding the elderly's catering needs.
At present, this market It is still in the blue ocean stage, and the competition is not yet fierce
.
For the elderly, the demand side, the way to solve the catering is mainly based on home cooking.
The elderly who pursue convenience occasionally go to convenience stores to buy meals, or use takeaways to solve their hunger needs
.
If an excellent catering entrepreneurial team develops a high-quality service experience for the catering of the elderly, it is expected to grow into a leading company with a large scale in the sub-sector, and its social value will also be higher than that of general catering companies
.

　　"China Food News" (December 22, 2021 07 edition)

　　(Editor-in-charge: Wang Ning)