Entering restaurants and bars, plant meat actively embraces the market

  Can artificial foods please consumers?

  Intern reporter Yang Tianyue

  After KFC, Starbucks and other top "foreign fast food" players tested the waters, in recent times, plant meat products from local entrepreneurial brands such as Zhenrou, Zhurou, and Weekly Zero have quietly entered restaurants and bars of all sizes, and even Plant meat can already be seen in Chinese restaurants.

From "following the trend" and "stir-fried concept" to entering restaurants and menus, the vegetable meat dishes that used to be "just heard" began to embrace the market and blossom everywhere.

But for Chinese consumers who are more picky about taste and taste, can they really accept such new ingredients?

  Many restaurants launch plant-based meat dishes

  Xu Xiaoshu Mala Tang, opened in the third phase of the China World Trade Center, is a "canteen" shop for many workers around to solve their work meals. Recently, many diners have discovered that plant meatballs are quietly appearing on familiar shelves, which also attracts many people to try it out.

"Although the overall taste is a bit loose, it doesn't have any beany flavor, and it can be considered tough, mainly because I think it is healthier." Ms. Minhua, who tried it for the first time, said.

  The reporter noticed that other ingredients in the store are sold by the catty. Regardless of the meat and vegetables, the price is 39.9 yuan per catty. The plant meatballs supplied by Zhenrou are sold separately at the price of 7 yuan for two pieces.

According to Xu Yajun, the founder of Xu Xiaoshu, all of Xu Xiaoshu's five stores in Beijing have already launched plant meatballs.

"It's selling well. Looking at the overall quantity, on average, 1 out of 10 people will place an order."

  Since the second half of this year, fast food chains such as KFC, Starbucks, Hi Tea, Dicos, etc. have begun to experiment with plant-based meat products. The restaurants of high-end hotels such as Four Seasons Hotel have also introduced plant-based meat since the end of last year, but plant-based meat dishes appeared in cheap Chinese dishes. Xu Xiaoshu can be regarded as the first fast food restaurant.

In addition, the reporter learned that Jindingxuan, a Cantonese restaurant chain, is also trying to introduce plant meat products.

  However, for now, western restaurants and bars are still the most common food and beverage formats for plant meat.

The Zarah Bar on Gulou Street has added rare meat pasta and macaroni into the menu since October; Mexican restaurant Mojuaner in Sanlitun is using plant meat products from plants to develop taco and other plant meat dishes ;Qmex Mexican restaurant also located in Sanlitun will also launch plant meat dishes next week.

  The reporter was informed that the plant-based meat products of Zhenrou have entered nearly 30 trendy restaurants or casual dining bars in Beijing, including Four Seasons Hotel, Streetside, and Dayue Beer; the plant-based meat brand Starfield from Taiwan has been in cooperation with Hey Tea. Light catering brands such as, Gaga, and New Elements have co-branded their products; the plant meat brand Zhurou from Shanghai has also entered the Beijing market, cooperating with many restaurants such as Mojuaner, Yiku, Arrow Factory Beer, etc.

Plant meat has begun to blossom everywhere in Chinese restaurants, western restaurants, bars and many other catering formats.

  The cost is almost the same as real meat

  According to the person in charge of the Qmex restaurant, the Sanlitun store started to test plant-based burgers in September this year, and its sales in the burger category quickly reached 35% after it went online.

"This is an amazing data." The person in charge said that consumers' recognition of plant meat has also accelerated the online process of restaurant plant meat dishes.

"Next Wednesday, Qmex's three stores in Sanlitun, China World Trade Center and Shuangjing area will simultaneously launch plant meat products, and the most popular items in the store will appear in plant meat versions."

  The reporter noticed that on the Qmex store’s menu, the prices of plant-based meat dishes such as smoked double-layer rare meat beef burgers, spicy meat sausage and minced cheese pancakes are the same as ordinary real meat products, and spicy meat sausage minced burritos are sold. The price is 75 yuan, which is 3 yuan lower than the price of chopped spicy sausage made from regular beef.

  According to the person in charge of the Qmex restaurant, the current purchase cost of rare meat plant meat that replaces beef is the same as that of ordinary frozen beef, or even slightly lower, and it is 3 to 4 times lower than that of the established foreign plant meat brands Beyong Meat and Impossible Food.

According to Lu Zhongming, the founder of Zhenrou, the improvement of technology and the connection of upstream and downstream industry supply chains are the main reasons for the cost reduction.

  From "following the trend" and "stir-fried concept" to entering restaurants and menus, vegetable meat dishes that were once "only heard" bloom in restaurants and bars, and vegetable meat that has been in the "fried concept" has also begun to embrace the market.

In the past six months, major chain catering companies such as KFC, Starbucks, and Hey Tea have stepped in. Old-brand traditional food companies such as Jinhua Ham, Shuangta Foods, Wanchai Wharf, and Jinluo have also competed to test the water.

In the eyes of many industry insiders, this also makes it a general trend for plant meat products to enter mainstream catering channels.

  Must strictly observe food safety standards

  At present, the plant meat products on the domestic market are mainly products made of minced meat such as meatloaf, steak, and meatballs, which are more suitable for the cooking of Western-style catering.

In Lu Zhongming's view, if plant meat is to better achieve localization, it is necessary to develop products that are more suitable for Chinese food scenes.

"In the next generation of technology, we will make the product into a meat block or meat strip structure."

  In order to improve the taste, plant meat companies strive to remove the beany flavor of pea protein and soy protein in the raw materials, but to make the product more "meat-scented", more advanced purification and flavor technologies are required.

In this regard, many consumers expressed concern, "Will they rely on additives again?"

  In this regard, some industry experts believe that before the relevant technology matures, plant meat companies must keep the health brand.

"If plant meat is not tasty, companies may add some additives that are not in the national safety standards to enhance the fragrance and taste of plant meat products." According to Liu Xinqi, a professor at the School of Food and Health, Beijing Technology and Business University, the market is very self-disciplined. Important, but also need to strengthen industry supervision.

  According to Xue Yan, secretary general of the China Plant Industry Alliance, the alliance is leading upstream and downstream companies in the plant meat industry to develop standards.

"There are no shortcuts to technological breakthroughs. If you are really optimistic about this market, you should invest in research and development on a down-to-earth basis. The ultimate goal of industrial development is to see who can develop products that meet localized tastes, consumption habits and safety standards."