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
.
Like all industries in the early stages of development, the prepared vegetable industry is also facing many pain points, such as the quality of dishes and serious homogenization are inevitable 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 quality of the dishes needs to be improved

The technical content of prepared dishes is not low, especially for the replication and reduction of traditional Chinese flavors, which 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.
, said
.

The group standard "Prepared Dishes" issued by the China Cuisine Association in June this year divides prepared dishes into three categories
: ready-to-eat (instantaneous) 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, which is also the focus
of technical research of many prefabricated vegetable companies.

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.
, said, "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, and 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.
" Industry insiders said
.

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
.
Wu Chenxi said that there are talents in food industrialization and chefs, but talents who can combine the two are very scarce
.

With the rapid development of central kitchens in recent years, there is a shortage
of relevant talents.
At present, there are many enterprises 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 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 detailed analysis of various dish raw materials, and at the same time use different production methods for 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.
Documents issued by many places have mentioned the introduction and cultivation of prefabricated vegetable talents, and through "real money" policies and measures, support the construction of prefabricated vegetable talent teams, and 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 person who is selected through the declaration of the city's prepared vegetable enterprises for the National Overseas High-level Talent Introduction Program; 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.

Prevent food safety risks

All industries involved in "eating" cannot bypass food safety, which is not only the bottom line that food companies 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, China Agricultural University, said
.

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
.

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
.
Industry insiders believe 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.
" The whole industry chain of prepared vegetables is long, products and consumption channels are diversified, and the current integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries is low and difficult
.
Liu Rui, associate researcher at the Institute of Food and Nutrition Development of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said
.

"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 introduced 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 for 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 a complete and 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 standards and technical specifications for planting and breeding 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; The tertiary industry needs to improve the product standards and service standards of the prefabricated vegetable subcategories
.

(Liu Xiaoxiao, Li Dongyang)

China Food News(November 25, 2022, Version 08)

(Responsible editor: Wang Jiayi)