Can the Prefabricated Vegetables Industry Alliance set up "small and weak" prefabricated dishes to be made into "trillion cakes"

　　- The Red Star Capital Bureau noted that the China Prefabricated Vegetable Industry Alliance (hereinafter referred to as the "Prefabricated Vegetable Alliance") was officially established on April 16, becoming the first national prefabricated vegetable industry self-regulatory organization.

　　- According to the official WeChat account of the alliance, after nearly two years of rapid development, the market size of the pre-prepared vegetable industry has reached 410 billion yuan.

　　- However, the main counterparts of prefabricated vegetable production companies were B-end catering companies, and it was not easy to be C-end.

At present, most prefabricated vegetable processing enterprises are still in a small, weak and scattered state, and the industry lacks unified national standards.

With more and more players entering the pre-made dish track, the white-hot competition in the future industry seems to be unavoidable.

　　ideal is full

　　Alliance established

　　Nearly 1,500 applications from related units have been received

　　On April 16, the "Prefabricated Cuisine Alliance" was established.

The reporter noticed that the Prefabricated Cuisine Alliance has begun to recruit members.

　　At present, Beijing Yimutian Xinnong Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yimutian") is responsible for the liaison of the alliance secretariat.

According to public information, Deng Jinhong, CEO of Yimutian Group, is also the chairman of the Prefabricated Vegetable Industry Alliance.

Yimutian is an Internet company based on mobile Internet technology, deeply cultivating the origin of agricultural products, and promoting the efficiency of agricultural product circulation.

　　In addition to Yimu Tian, ​​the current member units of the Prefabricated Vegetable Alliance include Guangdong Hengxing Group Co., Ltd., Tongue Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd., "Hengsheng Publishing" and other companies.

　　According to the official website of Hengxing Group, its current main business is "suppliers and service providers for chain catering and food ingredients trading platforms".

On February 9, 2022, Hengxing Group and Tongue Technology held a strategic cooperation signing ceremony in Guangzhou, and revealed that in 2022, Hengxing will invest 1 billion yuan to deploy pre-made dishes.

Tongue Technology is also a member of the alliance. It was established in 2020 and its founder is Lu Zhengyao, the former chairman of Luckin Coffee.

　　According to the official website released by Hang Seng, its main business includes "gathering similar products for evaluation and publishing high-scoring list of subdivision standards"; "product selection standards, food guides, price identification, health instructions" and so on.

　　The above-mentioned contact person told the Red Star Capital Bureau that the alliance has received applications from nearly 1,500 relevant units and is verifying the application information.

"(They) some need to find channel providers, and some need to find ingredients for raw materials." As for the conditions that companies need to meet to become members, and whether companies need to pay membership dues to join the membership, the contact person did not respond positively.

　　The track is hot

　　Pre-made dishes are expected to become the next "catering trillion market"

　　Behind the participation of many players is the epitome of the accelerated development of the pre-made food industry.

　　The pre-prepared food industry started in China around 2000, and some old-fashioned professional pre-prepared food enterprises were established one after another.

For example, Guangdong Steamed Cooking was established in 1998. In 2000, it established the "Our Beef Steak" enterprise, specializing in the production of Chinese food cooking bags; Congchu was founded in 2002.

　　However, the main counterparts of prefabricated vegetable production companies were B-end catering companies, and their influence on the C-end of consumers has always been small.

　　Around 2014, the emergence of takeaways led to the rapid growth of the prefabricated food industry, and capital saw the potential of prefabricated food.

In 2015 and 2016, there were 14 and 17 financing events in the prepared vegetable industry, respectively.

Subsequently, the outbreak of the new crown epidemic and the support of local policies accelerated the development of the prepared vegetable industry.

In 2021, nine upstream and downstream enterprises of prefabricated dishes, including Zhenwei Xiaomeiyuan, Sanmeanyoubao, Xunweishi, and Wangjiahuan, received financing.

　　In April 2021, Weizhixiang (605089. SH) landed on the A-share market and became the "first share of pre-made vegetables" in the domestic market.

In November 2021, Xianmei, a company specializing in prefabricated aquatic products, submitted the prospectus materials for the main board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

In January this year, “Yinshi”, a Chinese pre-prepared food chain store brand, received millions of yuan in angel round financing, and Zhenwei Xiaomeiyuan announced the completion of a 100 million yuan B+ round of financing led by Baidu Ventures.

　　How popular the pre-made food track is, can also be seen from the players who announced their entry into the game: new Internet-based pre-made food brands are springing up; Hema, Meituan Maicai, Daily Youxian, Dingdong Maicai and other fresh food brands Commercial platforms have entered the market one after another; chain catering companies such as Haidilao and Xibei have launched pre-made dishes; condiment companies such as Hengshun Vinegar and Haitian Flavor have indicated that they will make efforts in the research and development stage of pre-made dishes.

　　Reality is skinny

　　Enterprises are "small, weak and scattered" and there is no unified "national standard"

　　Is the follow-up development of the prefabricated vegetable industry supported by capital and policies a smooth path?

Not quite the answer.

　　China's food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng told reporters that there are still pain points in the prefabricated food industry. One of the important points is that the consumer's recognition and acceptance of prefabricated food is not high enough. Some consumers will think that the nutrition of prefabricated food is lost. Or the food is not fresh.

　　The taste of pre-made dishes is difficult to reproduce in dine-in restaurants, and the price of some products is similar to or even higher than that of ordinary small stores, which makes it even more difficult for consumers to accept.

For example, the promotional price of 250g cooking package of "Garlic Spare Ribs" in Zhenwei Xiaomeiyuan is 39 yuan, and the price of garlic flavored spare ribs in a chain hot pot restaurant is 26 yuan.

　　Secondly, the entry threshold for the pre-prepared vegetable industry is low, there are many entrants, there are many industries involved, and the OEM situation is common, but there is a lack of unified national standards.

"This may cause hidden dangers in food safety." Zhu Danpeng said.

　　He believes that even if the industry alliance is established, from the current point of view, the standard formulated is "at most an industry standard, not a national standard", and there is no uniqueness and compulsion.

　　According to a research report released by Essence Securities, about 70% of prefabricated vegetable processing enterprises are still in a small, weak and scattered state.

"In foreign countries, there is a very strict standard for pre-made dishes, that is, within half an hour, they must be quick-frozen from room temperature and hot to minus 40 degrees. At present, many small enterprises do not have such technology and equipment."

　　The C-end market is in its early stages

　　Low demand but high cost

　　For most pre-prepared food companies, it is not easy to do C-side.

　　According to Euromonitor data, in 2021, the actual demand for pre-made dishes in China will not be as high as imagined, and China's pre-made dishes have not really reached the "prosperous production and sales" node.

　　To do C-side, the cost of investment is very high.

On the one hand, because the demand on the C-side is scattered, and many pre-made dishes require cold chain distribution, to ensure product quality, it involves building warehouses in multiple locations, increasing the cold chain transportation capacity, etc., and it is difficult to reduce the cost for a while; , and requires mass production trials, so the R&D cost is higher than that of physical stores.

　　When the prefabricated dish brand "Jia Guolong Kung Fu Cuisine" was launched, its founder Jia Guolong said that making prefabricated dishes means "betting on my name, and there is a human head logo used for the logo, which is basically the one I use. Head guarantee."

　　Haidilao (06862.HK) also seems to have withdrawn half a step from the pre-made dishes C-end track - its pre-made dishes brand "Kaifan", which was launched in March 2020, is now difficult to find on major e-commerce platforms.

The reporter consulted the customer service of its official flagship store (Tmall) in this regard, and was told that "it is time to change the packaging", and sent a "eat well" food sauce product.

The customer service of JD.com's "Chopsticks Kitchen Flagship Store" also replied to the reporter that the series of meals was "temporarily unavailable".

　　What is the outlook for the "pre-made dishes" in the hot sector?

　　The industry "decisive battle" is about to begin

　　Product, brand, supply chain are the key

　　Long Fang, investment director of Juzhen Capital, believes that the prefabricated vegetable industry is a short-term hot sector, and it is difficult to sustain it after the epidemic has eased.

　　At present, more and more players are entering the track, and the fierce competition in the future seems to be inevitable.

Most workshop-type semi-finished products enterprises are far behind large-scale enterprises in raw material procurement, production process, warehousing and logistics, etc., and it is difficult to achieve raw material traceability, standardized production and cold chain logistics distribution, and cannot guarantee food hygiene and safety, and will be phased out in the future.

　　So, what kind of business can have the last laugh?

　　Horizontally comparing the Japanese market where the pre-prepared vegetable industry is relatively mature, the largest pre-prepared vegetable companies, "Nil Leng" and "Kobe", have common features: outstanding products (with star items or diverse categories) and strong supply chain capabilities.

　　The "Ri Leng" company has launched a variety of foods such as rice, Chinese food, and chicken, mainly deep-processed products such as fried rice and meat patties.

Since its star item "Authentic Fried Rice" was launched in 2001, it has topped the sales list of Japan's quick-frozen fried rice category for 20 consecutive years by restoring the taste of professional chef cooking.

　　The "Kobe" company has more than 360 kinds of self-owned brand products, the number of categories is about 5,300, and the SKU (smallest stock keeping unit) of imported products exceeds 1,400, from 40 countries and regions around the world, with a rich product matrix.

　　In terms of supply chain, "Nilcold" initially started by selling frozen fish, and has built a relatively complete cold chain distribution network very early; by the end of 2021, "Kobe" has 23 food processing plants in Japan, and has deployed overseas. More than 350 cooperative factories.

　　Regarding the developing 2C pre-prepared vegetable enterprises, Chen Jiahe, chief investment officer of Jiuyuan Qingquan Technology, once wrote an article that the following business strategies should be considered: avoid nationwide expansion and omni-channel competition, and give up trying to fully occupy by using first-mover advantages. Market, crowd out competitors (poor consumer stickiness makes this kind of attempt difficult to succeed), avoid building high-end brands through high advertising investment, and focus on key areas, gradually accumulate good reputation through high cost performance, and try to consolidate the company. regional scale advantage.

As a result, 2C pre-prepared vegetables enterprises can establish a relatively stable long-term competitiveness.

　　Chengdu Business Daily-Red Star News reporter Yu Yao intern reporter Zhang Luxi