Why do pre-made dishes prefer sauerkraut fish?

In recent years, the rate of restaurant chaining has been increasing, superimposed on the impact of "lazy house economy" and normalization of epidemic prevention and control, and the popularity of pre-made dishes has increased
significantly.
As one of the popular products of pre-made dishes, the market size of sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes is growing
.
According to data from iMedia Consulting, the scale of China's sauerkraut fish pre-made vegetable market reached 6.
71 billion yuan in 2021 and is expected to grow to 20.
47 billion yuan
in 2025.

The category of aquatic prepared dishes is on the rise

According to the "2022 China Sauerkraut Fish Pre-made Vegetable Industry Research and Competition Pattern Monitoring Report" released by iMedia Consulting, more than 50% of the surveyed consumers like sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes; 85.
5% of the surveyed consumers buy sauerkraut fish prepared vegetable products
1-3 times a week.

The continuous enrichment of the taste and quality of sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes also means that the consumption scene of sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes will be more extensive
.
According to the survey data, multi-person gatherings are the main scene of consumption of sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes, among which 66.
7% of consumers will eat sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes in the scene of celebrating holidays, while the proportion of sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes alone is only 15.
4%; Consumers mainly eat sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes during lunch and dinner, and the proportion is more than 40%.

In a supermarket in Beijing, the freezer with pre-made dishes is crowded with people, and a consumer who bought sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes said that the family will basically buy pre-made dishes 5-6 times a month, and pre-made dishes are very convenient, and you can eat dishes that require more complex processes without going to the restaurant, and feel cleaner and more hygienic
.

On an online shopping platform, the praise rate of sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes is very high, some people evaluate the taste is very refreshing, and some people evaluate the convenience
of semi-finished products to cook.

The person in charge of a supermarket in Beijing said that the sales of pre-made dishes are very good, with an average of about
2,000 yuan a day for all categories of pre-made dishes.

The popularity of pre-made dishes is increasing, and the sub-category of aquatic products pre-made dishes will also rise
.
With the continuous development of e-commerce, consumers' cognition of new things is constantly changing, and the various new needs derived from it have enriched sauerkraut fish pre-made vegetable products
.

The hot market of sauerkraut fish has attracted many brands to enter the market, and the industrial competition pattern has gradually formed
.
Online channels are the main channels for the C-end layout of sauerkraut fish pre-made vegetable brands, which open up consumers' awareness and brand recognition of sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes through live streaming and short video content marketing, and promote the rapid development of
sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes brands on the C-end.

High degree of taste reduction

Li Qiuguang, head of Zhaoqing Food Factory of Guangdong Hengxing Group Co.
, Ltd.
, said that sauerkraut fish has sour, spicy, fresh and other flavor characteristics, and the ingredients are easy to obtain, the production process is relatively simple, the taste acceptance is high, and it gradually breaks through geographical restrictions and has a wide consumer base
.

Heavy taste food can stimulate the sense of taste, sour and spicy taste leaves consumers with deep taste memory, and then forms consumption habits
.
Light pre-made vegetable products have higher requirements for taste reduction and ingredient preservation, so most companies will give priority to pre-made dishes with heavy taste, and widely use seasonings in the research and development process to reduce taste disadvantages
to a certain extent.

Liu Zidan, head of Hainan Xiangtai Fishery Co.
, Ltd.
, said that the emergence of sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes solved the problems of difficult handling of fish fillets and difficult to mix seasoning tastes, and reduced the obstacle
to the integration of sauerkraut fish into household consumption scenes.

The person in charge of a supermarket in Beijing said that the main age group of consumers who buy sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes is office workers aged 30-40 or 55-65 years old who have just retired, and this part of the group is busier at work or cooks more, and will choose to buy pre-made dishes
.
The main consumer groups of pre-made dishes are consumers with long-term cooking habits, such as young families with children or middle-aged and elderly consumer groups
.

Zhu Yaping, deputy secretary-general of the China Aquatic Products Circulation and Processing Association, said that the rapid development of pre-made dishes such as sauerkraut fish conforms to the trend and trend of social development, China's aging degree is gradually deepening, women's employment rate is generally increasing, the pace of life is accelerating, young families will spend more time with their children to grow, and pre-made dishes are rising
accordingly.

One or both young families are working hard in their careers, and the consumption of time and energy and the worrying level of cooking make it difficult to eat well at home, first of all, not knowing what to eat, and secondly not knowing how to do
it.
When a healthy, nutritionally balanced diet becomes a rigid need, "adding a big dish" becomes a contradiction between
supply and demand.

Zhu Yaping believes that aquatic products, as representatives of healthy food, are increasingly favored by consumers, especially the release of the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022)", which has made more consumers aware of the benefits of
eating aquatic products.

In addition to families with small children, the large number of families dining and the ability to complete a table of heartfelt and delicious dishes with limited time and energy make pre-made dishes one of
the preferred reasons for older traditional family kitchen managers.
For example, the Spring Festival banquet where relatives and friends gather is a typical pre-made dish eating scene
.

According to data from iMedia Consulting, high taste reduction is the main reason why
61.
9% of consumers buy sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes.
Secondly, 55.
4% of consumers believe that eating sauerkraut fish prepared dishes is more
cost-effective than going to a restaurant.
In the eyes of consumers, compared with going to a restaurant to buy or make their own sauerkraut fish, sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes are based on a more affordable price, and have advantages
in terms of taste reduction, freshness, and convenience of consumption.

Li Qiuguang said that sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes solve the pain points of not having time to cook on the one hand, and the pain points
of not being able to cook on the other hand.
Taking sauerkraut fish in gin soup as an example, it is very convenient for consumers to cook at home, just add 500ml of water to the pot, after the water boils, pour the sauerkraut bun into the boil for about 3 minutes, pour the fish fillets into the pot, cook for about 1 minute, sprinkle with green onions, coriander, cooked white sesame seeds to taste the same delicacy
as the restaurant.

The whole industry works together to promote development

There is no doubt that sauerkraut fish pre-made dishes have become a new favorite
on the tip of the tongue.
However, it cannot be ignored that this fast-growing industry still has many pain points to solve
.

Zhu Yaping said that at present, the aquatic product prepared vegetable industry is still in the market cultivation period, in the initial stage of development, the uneven enterprises, the lack of unified standards and specifications, the immature development of the supply chain and vicious competition are all factors restricting the development of
the industry.

Essence Securities report shows that about 70% of the pre-made vegetable processing enterprises are in a small, weak and scattered state, and many are individual industrial and commercial households and workshop-style production and processing models
.
The lack of unified industry standards will inevitably bring serious food safety risks
.

"Pre-made dishes actually have a high threshold, and the temperature of the dish must be dropped from 100 °C to minus 40 °C in half an hour, and the general hardware cannot support
it.
" Food safety is a major factor affecting the entire industry, and at present, there is a lack of national standards in the field of prepared dishes, and industrial chaos is prone to occur
.
China food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng said
.

Recently, the Guangdong Provincial Market Supervision Bureau issued a notice
on approving and issuing five local standard formulation plans for pre-made dishes.
Li Qiuguang believes that the industry standards for sauerkraut and fish pre-made vegetables need to be introduced urgently, and it is also necessary for the industry to work together to help build a pre-made vegetable standard system, promote the coordinated development of the trinity of agricultural products, aquatic food and dishes, and achieve high-quality development of
the aquatic product pre-made vegetable industry.

"Although there are many relevant standards in place, most of them are not mandatory
.
The rapid expansion of the entire pre-made vegetable industry requires the introduction of mandatory national standards, so as to regulate the development of
the entire industry.
Zhu Danpeng said
.

In Zhu Danpeng's view, with the growth and expansion of the industry, it is expected that national standards will be introduced around 2025 to promote the standardization, branding and professional development
of the entire industry.

With the gradual maturity of the market and the intensification of competition, channel efficiency and supply chain efficiency have become the competitive advantages
of the sauerkraut fish prepared vegetable market.
In addition to the difference between the fish itself, additives and ingredients have also become the landing point
for the competition of various brands.
For sauerkraut fish pre-made vegetable brands, it has high brand potential, omni-channel penetration and efficient supply chain integration capabilities, which can attract more potential consumers
in the future.

The price of prepared dishes is also highly controversial
.
The price of regular brands of pre-made dishes is not cheap, and some consumers think that the price of pre-made dishes is slightly expensive, and they will only stock up a few boxes
when they are discounted.

Serious homogenization and fierce competition are the problems that enterprises are more worried about
.
According to the research report of Guohai Securities, in 2021, the C-end of pre-made dishes will account for only 20%, mainly the
B-end.
On the B side, leading enterprises that entered the market earlier occupy the channel, supply chain and brand advantages, and it is difficult for new enterprises to open the market
.

Zhu Yaping believes that the research and development cost of Chinese food pre-made dishes is high, the phenomenon of enterprises following the trend is serious, a leading enterprise has worked hard to develop a product to the market, once it is recognized by the market, it faces the risk of a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises following the trend, and then it may cause a price war
.
It is recommended to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, improve product quality, and attach importance to the research and development of
dishes.
R&D is the foundation of an enterprise's development, and the research and development of Chinese food pre-made dishes is particularly difficult, it is recommended to fully protect the research and development results of dishes from the institutional mechanism to give enterprises the confidence
to dare to invest in research and development.
Enterprises should do a good job in the research and development of dishes with a broader vision, not only focus on aquatic products, but should take Chinese food culture as the foundation, on the basis of aquatic products as the main ingredients, strengthen the compound with grain, vegetables, meat products, soy products and other ingredients, and develop products
that are more suitable for consumer demand.

(Wang Jiayi)

China Food News (2022.
09.
29.
08 Edition).

(Editor: Wang Jiayi)