The prepared vegetable industry is booming

Nowadays, prepared dishes have become a new dietary choice
for many people.
Data show that from January to October 2022, the turnover of prepared vegetables increased by 170%
year-on-year.
In 2022, Jingdong's "Double 11" opened 28 hours, and the store's signature dishes increased by more than 200%
year-on-year.

In order to gain a more comprehensive insight into the consumption trend of prepared vegetables, JD Consumer and Industry Development Research Institute and JD Supermarket recently released the "2022 Prepared Vegetables Online Consumption Trend Insight Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") to analyze
the prepared vegetable consumption market.

The "Report" shows that with the expansion of the taste of pre-made dishes, the growth rate of the eight major cuisines is eye-catching, of which Sichuan-Hunan cuisine pre-made dishes are the most favored by consumers, accounting for more than 50% of the turnover from January to October 2022, while the popularity of Fujian and Cantonese cuisine pre-made dishes is also continuing to grow, with a year-on-year increase of 193%.

It is worth noting that young and middle-aged people have gradually become the main force of pre-made dish consumption, with 26-45-year-old users accounting for more than 70% of the pre-made dish turnover, and female users accounting for 56%, and the increase in age is also proportional
to the quality of pre-made dishes.
In addition, the purchase of prepared dishes is moving from the festival to the daily life, in addition to the relative sales peak during the festival, the usual prepared dishes also have better sales performance and higher growth rate
.

Young and middle-aged people are the main force of consumption

The "Report" shows that from January to October 2022, the turnover of pre-made dishes for users aged 26-45 accounted for more than 70%, and the turnover of pre-made dishes for people aged 36-45 increased by 177% year-on-year, which shows that their demand for efficient kitchens is very strong and still growing
.

From the perspective of gender, female users account for 56%
of the buyers of prepared dishes.
Among them, women aged 36-45 have great consumption potential
.
According to the report, from January to October 2022, the turnover of prepared dishes for women aged 36-45 increased by 181% year-on-year, followed by women aged 26-35, with a year-on-year increase of 165%.

It can be seen that pre-made dishes are also one of the solutions for efficient kitchens for most mothers under the pressure of
life and work.

Further analysis of the change in the unit price of pieces, it can be seen that with the growth of age groups, the price of pre-made menus is constantly increasing, and the unit price of people over 56 years old is the highest, which shows that they also pay more attention to quality
when buying pre-made dishes.
When users purchase pre-made dishes for the first time, the top 3 focus is the brand, cuisine and eating method, while when repurchasing, consumers focus on the top 3 is texture, taste and freshness
.

Industry insiders said that not only young people like pre-made dishes, pre-made dishes have captured the love of people of all ages with their convenient and delicious characteristics, and pre-made dishes with complete color, aroma, taste and quality can win the long-term trust
of consumers.

All eight cuisines are popular

As we all know, it is not easy to taste the classic dishes of the eight major cuisines "without leaving home", and pre-made dishes easily solve this problem
.
Among the eight major cuisines, Sichuan-Hunan cuisine is the most popular among consumers, and the popularity of Fujian and Cantonese cuisine continues to grow
.
The report shows that from January to October 2022, from the perspective of turnover, Sichuan-Hunan cuisine accounted for more than 50% of pre-made dishes, followed by Fujian-Cantonese cuisine and Northwest cuisine; From the perspective of growth rate, Fujian and Cantonese cuisine prefabricated dishes increased by 193% year-on-year, ranking first
among all cuisines.

Among consumers' favorite dishes, "hard dishes" such as Buddha jumping off the wall, sauerkraut fish, pork belly chicken and so on have become the top 3
signature dishes most loved by consumers.
During the opening period of JD.
com's "Double 11" in 2022, the turnover of prefabricated pork belly chicken increased by more than 500%
year-on-year.

JD.
com's sales from January to October 2022 further showed that consumers in Guangdong Province bought 28% of Buddha jumping off the wall; Shanghai consumers prefer to buy sauerkraut fish, and 24% of sauerkraut fish is sold in Shanghai; Beijing consumers, on the other hand, are big fans of pork belly chicken and Peking duck, buying 22% of pork belly chicken and 20% of Peking duck
respectively.
Regional specialties represented by hometown flavors are popular
with diners from all over the world.

In addition, the variety of Cantonese prepared dishes is becoming more and more abundant
.
Cantonese specialties such as poon choi, beef balls, lion's head goose, roasted goose, salted baked chicken, soy sauce chicken and other Cantonese specialties continue to be popular in the market and win the favor
of consumers.

Sourcing is moving from festive to everyday

The "Report" shows that with the enrichment of the variety of prepared dishes and the diversification of tastes, prepared dishes have come to consumers' daily tables from festive family
banquets.

Previously, Jingdong data showed that the sales of pre-made vegetables during the 2022 New Year Festival increased by 150% year-on-year, and the year-on-year growth of time-honored brands exceeded 200%, and the sales of Chinese time-honored brands such as Xinya Chef, Meilong Town, and Meizhou Dongpo were hot
.

During this year's "May Day" period, the transaction amount of pre-made dishes increased by more than 250% year-on-year, the number of sunrise warehouses exceeded one million, and the same offline catering - Meizhou Dongpo low-temperature lunch meat, Dongpo elbow, Xibei sheep scorpion, sobian fish and fish, Hallasan roast beef, etc.
are deeply loved
by consumers.

According to the sales trend of pre-made dishes in the first 10 months of 2022, in addition to the relative sales peaks in January, Jingdong 618, Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, pre-made dishes also have better sales performance and higher growth rates
.

At the same time, the pre-made dish "contestants" are also secretly accumulating
.
For example, Guangzhou Restaurant's pre-made vegetable products are mainly its own brand quick-frozen poon choi series, tangerine peel duck, salty chicken and other Cantonese cooked food series, Cantonese soup and other products, and at the same time process poon choi
for third-party brands.
Many catering companies actively reserve and develop new categories
according to brand positioning, consumption scenarios, taste reduction, cost advantages, and channel characteristics.

Standardization wins consumer trust

"Easy to eat, good choice for holiday family banquets", "delicious and convenient and trouble-free, you can eat at any time", "Color, aroma, taste is not inferior to restaurants", "Good product quality, eat with confidence".
.
.
The "Report" also shows that from the evaluation of consumers, from the beginning to solve the kitchen problem of consumers "can't do, not delicious, no time", to meet consumers' demands for safe eating and eating at ease, standardized production of prefabricated dishes is gradually winning the trust
of consumers.

Previously, JD Fresh cooperated with the China Prepared Vegetable Industry Alliance to formulate and promulgate the "Standard Specification for Buddha Jumping Prepared Vegetable Products", which provides strong standardized management of Buddha jumping over the wall, and further improves consumers' purchase experience, promotes the standardized development of the industry, and allows consumers to eat more safely and confidently
while enjoying convenience.

In the long run, it is still necessary to strengthen the training of talents

Industry insiders said that a delicious pre-made dish must be developed
by the chef through trial and error, seasoning.
Therefore, if prefabricated vegetable enterprises want to become bigger and stronger, they need to fill the talent gap and create prefabricated dishes with unique flavor and stable quality
.
At present, many pre-made vegetable companies hire high-paying celebrity chefs to develop products, with the aim of creating distinctive and high-quality pre-made dishes
.

For example, Guangdong Hengxing and Yutangfu joined forces to test the waters of "prefabricated dishes + Cantonese cuisine masters"
.
Guangdong Hengxing has the advantages of aquatic food production, while the main business of Yutangfu includes group meal ordering, canteen contracting, etc.
, and there is no shortage of professional Cantonese cuisine chefs
.
The cooperation between the two parties can give full play to their respective advantages in the whole industry chain and the professional research and development advantages of Cantonese cuisine chefs, and jointly strive to promote pre-made dishes
.
Together, each gets what you need
.
Industry insiders said that for brands that want to cut into the field of prepared dishes in the future, this may be a direction
worth referring to.
However, for those enterprises that have no experience in catering operations, although high-tech hiring celebrity chefs to develop products is a way to quickly cut into the field of prepared dishes, in the long run, it is more important
to strengthen the training of talents and absorb some professionals in the prepared vegetable industry.

(Wang Ning, comprehensive arrangement)

China Food News(November 16, 2022, Version 08)

(Responsible editor: Wang Ning)