Prepared dishes The next trillion-dollar industry

With the popularity of the concept of prefabricated dishes, many enterprises have competed to enter the game in the past two years and make efforts to make efforts in the prefabricated vegetable industry track
.
Some institutions predict that in the next 3 to 5 years, China's prepared vegetable industry is expected to become the next trillion-yuan industry
.
However, like all industries in the early stage of development, the prepared vegetable industry is also facing many pain points, such as uncontrollable dish quality and serious homogenization in the short term
.
At present, what are the problems and pain points to be solved in the prepared vegetable industry? Where should enterprises start to promote the healthy and sustainable development of the industry? What are the practitioners' thoughts on this? The reporter conducted a visit and investigation
.

In 2022, the pre-made dishes that are favored for their convenience and speed can be described as popular in the circle, and they also have their presence
at the just-concluded Expo.
Prepared dishes are becoming a new choice on the table of urban and rural residents, and the prepared vegetable industry has also entered the fast lane
of development.
At the same time, with the rise of the "stay-at-home economy" and "lazy economy", the consumption demand for pre-made dishes that directly reach end consumers has increased, attracting supermarkets, e-commerce platforms, chain catering enterprises, specialty stores and many other enterprises to influx, and the competition is very fierce
.

While prefabricated dishes are becoming more and more popular, problems such as uncontrollable quality of some products, lack of food safety guarantee, and lack of talents in related fields have also begun to become prominent, and many people have questioned and worried
about the healthy and sustainable development of the prepared vegetable industry.
Will it achieve the "next trillion-dollar industry", or will it be just a flash in the pan in the end? A series of problems also plague prepared vegetable companies and practitioners
.
To achieve higher quality development, where should the industry go?

The quality of the dishes needs to be improved

Walking into the prefabricated vegetable enterprise, the reporter found that the technical content of prefabricated dishes is not low
.
Especially for the copying and restoration of traditional Chinese flavors, it is a major technical difficulty
for the entire industry.
According to the "2022 China Prepared Vegetables Industry Development Trend Research Report", 61.
8% of consumers believe that the degree of taste recovery of prepared dishes needs to be improved
.

"Chinese food is usually divided into eight major cuisines: Sichuan, Xiang, Cantonese, Fujian, Suzhou, Zhejiang, Hui and Lu, and the cooking methods include steaming, frying, boiling, stewing, stir-frying, boiling, roasting, and popping
.
The preparation process of some dishes is complicated, and it is difficult to restore the taste of pre-made dishes, and the standardization of Chinese dishes faces great challenges
compared to Western fast food.
Wang Chengxiang, deputy general manager of technology of Tongfu Group Co.
, Ltd.
, told reporters
.

The "Prepared Dishes" group standard issued by the China Cuisine Association in June this year divides prepared dishes into three categories
: ready-to-eat/ready-to-heat pre-made dishes, ready-to-cook pre-made dishes and pre-made clean dishes.
For the first two, whether the flavor of the dish itself can be restored to the greatest extent directly affects the consumer's dining experience
.
This is also the focus of technical research of
many prefabricated vegetable enterprises.

"We have been expanding our research market to restore the traditional Chinese food
on the streets as much as possible.
" Wang Lin, general manager of Shanghai food brand Lixiangguo, introduced that Lixiangguo is committed to bringing consumers healthy, nutritious and convenient ideal simple meals
.
In the increasingly competitive prepared vegetable market, Lixiangguo has gradually clarified its product positioning and focused more on the production of traditional gourmet prepared vegetable products, which are now very diverse
.

It is not an easy task to make these traditional dishes into pre-made dishes while preserving their original flavor to the greatest extent
.
Lixiangguo has put a lot of effort into the restoration of
taste.
Wang Lin told reporters, "We visited dozens of handicraft shops in Sichuan just to make authentic Sichuan-Chongqing handicrafts; I tasted more than 10 old Shanghai scallion oil cake shops, just to continue the old taste in my memory
.
The ingredients pay attention to the real materials, combined with advanced freezing and preservation technology, to restore the original good taste of food"
.

In addition to visiting old stores and researching technology, business cooperation is also an important part
of making prepared vegetable products.
In the early days of its establishment, Lixiangguo established in-depth cooperation with upstream high-quality supply chain enterprises to customize and develop raw materials
to meet the needs of Lixiangguo.
At the same time, Lixiangguo has also cooperated with many Chinese time-honored brands and century-old stores to launch "co-branded" products, which are favored by consumers
.

Chinese cuisine has a long history and varies greatly from region to region, making it difficult for pre-made dishes to meet the needs
of all consumers.
The difficulty of adjusting to all mouths has become a pain point
that prefabricated vegetable enterprises cannot avoid when formulating product positioning and improving the quality of dishes.
Wu Chenxi, chairman of Lazy Cat Kitchen, a brand of Beijing Mashang Feast Food Technology Development Co.
, Ltd.
, told reporters for example, "Taking chili stir-fried meat as an example, some consumers like it very much and repurchase it many times, but some consumers find the dishes too spicy to accept"
.
In response to the pain points that are difficult to adjust, Lazy Cat Kitchen continuously optimizes according to consumers' feedback on dishes to improve product satisfaction
.

"The demand on the consumer side is complex, diverse and very fragmented, forcing the supply side to continuously enrich the product category
.
With the development of the prepared vegetable industry, the product range will become more and more abundant, and consumers will have more and more choices, so they can buy dishes that meet their taste
.
Wu Chenxi is full of confidence
in the future of the prepared vegetable market.

"Even if it's the same dish, everyone's taste is different, and it takes repeated debugging
to be recognized by most consumers.
" Wang Lin said, "Although the management of elephant country has encountered many challenges in production technology and technical implementation, there is nothing more worthy of perseverance
than improving quality.
" ”

The shortage of talent is prominent

With the rapid development of the prepared vegetable industry, the thirst and attention of enterprises for related talents has gradually increased, and a group of professional talents are urgently needed
.

"The development of prepared dishes is not something that can be done by a few chefs
.
Previously, the company tried to hire several special chefs as consultants to help R&D personnel develop new products
.
Later, it was discovered that although the dishes made by the special chefs were delicious, they did not understand industrialization; Engineers who understand industrialization do not know how to cook deliciously
.
Wu Chenxi expressed his helplessness when developing pre-made dishes, "For example, marinating meat, the conventional cooking method is to cut the meat, add seasonings, mix well, and wait for the taste; However, the factory will use a negative pressure tumbling machine, which is fast and tastes good, but the ratio of seasonings is different from regular cooking and needs to be adjusted
.
Wu Chenxi said that at present, there are talents in food industrialization and chefs, but talents who can combine the two are very scarce
.

Wang Chengxiang also felt the same way, he told reporters that with the rapid development of the central kitchen in recent years, there is a shortage
of relevant talents.
He believes that at present, there are many companies that have cross-border entered the field of prepared dishes, but the profit margin of the industry is not high, and if you want to get a piece of it, each link needs to have an experienced management team for refined management
.

Zeng Mucheng, general manager of Beijing Ruishengda Business Consulting Co.
, Ltd.
, believes that in the process of development of prefabricated vegetable enterprises, system construction and team management need to be improved, and professionals who master food production technology are hired to conduct professional and meticulous analysis of various dish raw materials, and at the same time, different production methods are used for targeted research and development
according to the different characteristics of ingredients.

The introduction and cultivation of talents has become an important starting point
for the development of the prepared vegetable industry.
The reporter found that the documents issued by many places mentioned the introduction and cultivation of prefabricated vegetable talents, and supported the construction of prefabricated vegetable talent team through "real money" policies and measures to accelerate the high-quality development of
the industry 。 Taking Weifang, Shandong Province as an example, the "Nine Policies and Measures for Weifang City to Support the High-quality Development of the Prepared Vegetable Industry" issued in April this year pointed out that 2 million yuan will be given to each candidate selected through the declaration of the city's prefabricated vegetable enterprises for the national overseas high-level talent introduction plan; 1 million yuan will be given to candidates of the National High-level Talent Special Support Program, Taishan Industry Leading Talents and Taishan Scholars; For the introduction and cultivation of high-skilled talents in prepared dishes, each talent will be rewarded
with up to 100,000 yuan.

The "seamless connection" between scientific research and technical talents and enterprises is an important way
to promote the high-quality development of the prepared vegetable industry.
On August 26, the 2022 High-quality Prepared Vegetable Industry Joint Doctoral Workstation Pairing Ceremony was held in Foshan, Guangdong, with 10 doctoral workstations paired with 24 prepared vegetable enterprises
.
The doctoral workstation will help Foshan prepared vegetable enterprises to build a product research and development system, improve the standardized and automated production operation system, and do a good job in product quality safety and quality control
.
By absorbing and gathering doctors and high-tech talents, we will promote the cooperation between prefabricated vegetable manufacturers and universities and scientific research institutes, on the one hand, it can timely and effectively develop new prefabricated vegetable products to help enterprises respond to market demand, and on the other hand, it is also conducive to building a leading prefabricated vegetable enterprise
.

Prevent food safety risks

Any industry that involves "eating" cannot bypass food safety
.
This is not only the bottom line that food enterprises should adhere to, but also the cornerstone of
enterprises to maintain product competitiveness.
According to the "2022 China Prepared Vegetables Industry Development Trend Research Report", 47.
8% of consumers believe that the food safety of prepared vegetables needs to be improved
.

Compared with ready-to-cook prepared dishes and pre-made clean dishes, ready-to-eat prepared dishes are more convenient to eat, but food safety risks need to be prevented
.
"Cold-chain ready-to-eat prepared dishes such as drunken crabs and scallops with sauce are loved by consumers, but if there are problems in any part of raw material control, production and processing, storage, transportation and sales, it will easily lead to foodborne pathogenic microorganisms such as Listeria monocytogenes exceeding the standard
.
" Yin Shutao, associate professor at the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering of China Agricultural University, told reporters
.

To prevent food safety risks, enterprises must be the first gatekeeper
.
At present, the prefabricated dishes sold by some platform enterprises are mostly produced
by commissioned processing.
"Platform enterprises need to inspect the production environment of the OEM factory in advance, and then carefully select the cooperation objects, and carry out strict daily supervision
in raw and auxiliary material management, production process, warehousing logistics, quality inspection and other aspects.
" The prefabricated vegetable processing plant must have sufficient production capacity and strict food safety control system, and cannot arbitrarily adjust the process, formula, technical standards, etc.

without the permission of the entrusting party.
Yin Shutao said
.

Wu Chenxi told reporters, "In order to ensure the safety and hygiene of ingredients, the meat buns and material bags of the lazy cat kitchen choose to cooperate with large-scale food processing plants, and strictly control the whole production process, and set up multiple card points for random inspection"
.

Lixiangguo also has a lot of experience
in food safety control.
"First of all, enterprises should build a comprehensive standard system, such as the variety of raw materials, origin, storage conditions, etc.
must be strictly controlled, and different prepared vegetable products must have different production processes and acceptance standards
.
Secondly, all links of the supply chain strive to achieve precise control, and gradually improve the traceability system
from raw material processing to finished product sales.
In the future, with the help of professional product research and development and modern supply chain support, the company will gradually form a clear full-link food safety control system to provide consumers with more high-quality, good-tasting pre-made dishes
.
Wang Lin said
.

With the rapid expansion of the scale of China's prepared vegetable market, some insiders are worried that all kinds of enterprises under the "trillion outlet" rush up, while bringing homogenization problems, it will also lead to some enterprises falling into vicious competition, through reducing quality in exchange for benefits, food safety can not be guaranteed, and even destroy the reputation of the entire industry
.
Wang Chengxiang believes that the food safety chain of prepared vegetables should be built from the farm to the table, and a standardized central kitchen production plant and a safe distribution system
should be established.
At the same time, the corresponding industry standards and management specifications must also be improved as soon as possible to prevent food safety risks
caused by workshop production and low-price competition.

The industrial chain needs to be smoothed urgently

The upstream of the prepared vegetable industry is connected to the field, and the downstream is connected to the catering market and consumers' tables, which is of positive significance
to promote entrepreneurship and employment, consumption upgrading and rural revitalization.
"The development of prepared vegetables is a new way to promote the integration of rural industries, and it is also a new channel
for farmers to increase income and become rich.
" However, the whole industry chain of prepared vegetables is long, the products and consumption channels are diversified, and the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries is low and difficult
.
Liu Rui, an associate researcher at the Institute of Food and Nutrition Development of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, told reporters
.

"In the entire industrial chain, prefabricated vegetable enterprises need a large number of high-quality ingredients, and agricultural production provides high-quality agricultural products for prefabricated vegetable enterprises, but the definition and cognition of high-quality between the two are sometimes inconsistent, resulting in prefabricated vegetable enterprises suffering from purchasing high-quality high-quality ingredients with stable quality to ensure product quality, and on the other hand, a large number of high-quality agricultural products on the agricultural side cannot be sold, or can only be sold
at a low price.
" Liu Rui believes that many agricultural products cannot achieve high quality and high prices in the market, and cannot be fully used in factories and kitchens, resulting in a structural and regional imbalance
between supply and demand of agricultural products in China.

"The inconsistent demand for food quality in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain is a key limiting factor
for the disconnection of the entire industry chain of prepared vegetables and the low degree of integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries.
" Liu Rui told reporters that traditional agricultural production focuses on scale, cost, output and the appearance quality of agricultural products, and often ignores the intrinsic requirements
of secondary and tertiary industries such as food processing, catering, and circulation on the processing quality, edible quality, and nutritional quality of agricultural products.

Nie Ying, deputy secretary-general of the Green Agriculture and Food Nutrition Professional Committee of China Green Food Association, believes that under ideal conditions, the information between the links of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries involved in prefabricated dishes is smooth, and the terminal consumer demand can be reflected to the main bodies of the front and middle links of the industrial chain in a timely manner, and the main body will accurately feedback to the consumer market by adjusting and transforming the work content and working methods in a timely manner, forming a development situation
of mutual cooperation and coupling linkage between industries 。 "However, the actual situation is that due to the industrial chain involving multiple fields and multiple subjects, and the lack of unified goal-oriented standards, and the lack of a reasonable benefit distribution mechanism, the information flow is not smooth, the internal response of each link is lagging, and the links are disjointed
.
" Nie Ying said
.

Establishing and improving a systematic standardization system for the whole process of production management is the key to
the sustainable development of the prepared vegetable industry.
Liu Rui suggested that first of all, according to consumer demand, we should establish product standards and quality evaluation methods for different types of prepared dishes, and then establish food processing standards and quality testing methods accordingly, form standardized processing processes and process parameters, and gradually improve the quality and safety management system
.

"The establishment of unified goal-oriented standards is the basis for
the integrated development of the prepared vegetable industry.
" Nie Ying believes that the primary, secondary and tertiary industries involved in the prepared vegetable industry should improve the corresponding production standards
.
For example, the primary industry should formulate food material standards and planting and breeding technical specifications suitable for the processing of prepared vegetables, the secondary industry should clarify the technical regulations and method standards for the harvesting, preservation and primary processing of prepared vegetable raw materials, and the tertiary industry needs to improve product standards and service standards for prefabricated vegetable subcategories
.
(China Economic Network reporter Liu Xiaoxiao Li Dongyang)