Some Japanese food stores claiming "fresh ingredients" and "high-end raw materials" spend more than 1,000 yuan per capita
How many "high-priced daily materials" are shoddy?
● In recent years, many Japanese restaurants have sprung up like bamboo shoots after the rain, opening all over the streets and alleys, supermarkets and shopping malls in large, medium and small cities. The decoration styles of these stores are similar, and the slogans are mostly "fresh ingredients" and "high-end ingredients". Correspondingly, the price is not cheap
● The word-of-mouth of Japanese food stores has not been increasing simultaneously with the number of them. Some stores cut corners in terms of ingredients and use shoddy products, and some stores falsely standardize the cost of ingredients.
Some consumers have a lot of complaints about this and think it's not worth the money
● In order to standardize the operation of Japanese food stores, the responsibility of the operators must first be consolidated. The relevant food supervision departments should supervise and urge relevant catering enterprises to establish and improve food safety management systems through supervision and random inspection and assessment, and strengthen food safety knowledge training for employees.
□ Zhang Shoukun, a trainee reporter of this newspaper
□ Our reporter Zhao Li
Zhang Lei, a resident of Haidian, Beijing, is a Japanese food enthusiast who visits various Japanese food stores on weekends or holidays.
In his impression, the decoration style of the daily food store is elegant and calm, the environment is comfortable, the service is thoughtful, and "it feels very high-end", but the daily consumption level of the daily food store is often hundreds or even thousands of yuan per capita, which makes him unbearable. , a little incomprehensible.
There are not many people who have the same confusion as Zhang Lei.
In recent years, many Japanese restaurants have sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, opening up alleys and alleys, supermarkets and shopping malls in large, medium and small cities. The decoration styles of these stores are similar: the main color is log color, light brown or black, and the wooden door panels outside the store are hung with Ukiyo-e cloth. Curtains, wooden bar counters and tables... The slogans of these stores are mostly "fresh ingredients" and "high-end ingredients", etc. The corresponding price is not cheap.
However, a reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" found that the reputation of Japanese food stores and the number of them did not rise in tandem. Some stores cut corners in terms of ingredients, subsidized them, and some stores falsely marked the cost of ingredients.
Some consumers have a lot of complaints about this, thinking that it is not worth the money.
Experts interviewed believe that, given the cost of ingredients, storage costs, labor costs and other factors, the high price of daily ingredients is reasonable, but it should be reasonably and legally high, and consumers cannot be deceived or misled by false or misleading price methods.
The food supervision department should strengthen the supervision and random inspection of relevant catering enterprises, and urge the establishment and improvement of the food safety management system.
Environmental food is very particular
per capita consumption of up to 1,000 yuan
A platter composed of several pieces of salmon, arctic shellfish, etc. is 98 yuan, a live eel is 198 yuan, and a sushi pot is 228 yuan... The reporter found that the most expensive Japanese food store in Beijing is the most expensive Japanese food store in Beijing. The per capita consumption exceeds 4,500 yuan; there are 8 restaurants in Chongqing with a per capita consumption of more than 1,000 yuan, of which 5 are Japanese restaurants; there are 8 restaurants in Wuhan with per capita consumption of more than 1,200 yuan. .
According to the "China Catering Big Data 2021" released by Meituan, in 2019 and 2020, the average unit price of Japanese food is 101.4 yuan and 100.3 yuan respectively, ranking among the top of all catering categories.
Dozens of consumers who were randomly interviewed by reporters raised questions: What is the reason behind the fact that consumption is so high in just a few simple facts?
According to Mr. Cai, the owner of a Japanese food store in Quanzhou, Fujian, there are many cold foods in Japanese food, and there are many fresh ingredients involved.
Some Japanese food stores directly import ingredients from abroad, such as salmon, Japanese beef, etc. The prices of these ingredients themselves are high, plus the transportation cost, the final price can be imagined.
"In addition, Japanese food is also highly dependent on chefs' skills. Chefs often need to undergo strict training before they can take up their jobs, and the labor cost is higher than that of ordinary categories. In addition, in order to create a better dining atmosphere, Japanese food stores also spend money on marketing and packaging. A lot of thought." Mr. Cai said.
As Mr. Cai said, the reporter noticed that many Japanese food stores advertised in their promotional words that "knives, tableware, chopping boards and other large and small items in the store are purchased by the boss himself", "soy sauce for sushi, sweep The handle is mounted with gold leaf, with soft horsehair, made by a Japanese craftsman" "The chopping board is 70 to 100 years old ginkgo wood" "Don't underestimate anything in the store, a table at the bar needs dozens of million"...
According to Ren Chao, a professor at the School of Economics and Law of East China University of Political Science and Law, the high prices of Japanese food stores are also related to their positioning. Some high-end Japanese food stores may position consumers in high-end consumer groups rather than the public route.
Cut corners to shoddy
Food cost is high
Can a Japanese food store that spends hundreds or even thousands of yuan per capita really ensure the quality of its ingredients as advertised?
Ms. Li, a resident of Tianjin, gave a negative answer based on her dining experience in a Japanese food store: "Tempura" is thick and not crispy; the color of bluefin tuna sashimi is black and the taste is not right, obviously it needs to be stored for a long time. Deterioration; green-sided abalone with ginseng, abalone is an ordinary 10 yuan abalone, and no ginseng is visible.
"Two people spent more than 1,000 yuan and felt cheated." Ms. Li complained.
Previously, incidents of shoddy ingredients and cutting corners were frequently exposed in Japanese food stores.
For example, "He Lu" was closed due to problems such as fried rice with sour rice and the use of dyed crabs; "Ajisen Ramen" was accused of blending the noodle soup with concentrated liquid, which was completely inconsistent with the propaganda that the noodle soup was made from pure pork bones; It was exposed that his boss was wearing a watch and holding rolls, squeezing mayonnaise on sushi, sashimi padding cucumber, wasabi using wasabi paste, etc...
Mr. Zhao, a resident of Hexi District, Tianjin, has been engaged in seafood wholesale for many years. He noticed that there are many chaos in the ingredients in Japanese food stores.
"Take salmon as an example. The price of salmon is very high. The unit price of salmon imported from Norway is 80 yuan to 100 yuan, while the cheap domestic rainbow trout may be only 50 yuan for 4 pounds. Some unscrupulous merchants will use rainbow trout to pretend to be salmon. However, Salmon sashimi has been frozen at low temperature, and there is basically no parasite problem, but rainbow trout is farmed in fresh water, and raw food is prone to residual parasites."
"Wagyu is a few A, and the honeydew melon is from which prefecture or county. What is the difference between two-thirds and three-quarters of sake, it is difficult for ordinary people to taste the difference." Mr. Zhao said, and some Japanese food stores claimed "Every person eats super high-grade Japanese food for about 100 yuan", "unlimited all-you-can-eat salmon sashimi, foie gras sushi, sea urchin steamed eggs, etc." If it is real materials, then the cost of these stores is much higher than the selling price, how is it possible?
In addition, the cost of some Japanese ingredients is not as high as people think.
Mr. He from Guangxi used to work in a local Japanese food store with an average price of 100 yuan. He found that the most time-consuming work was making sushi. .
"The common side dishes in Japanese food stores, such as mustard octopus, spicy fresh clams, sweet and spicy snails, etc., are all instant products bought online. You can buy a large box for 30 or 40 yuan. The ramen is wholesale, and the soup is concentrated The ramen juice is blended, and the barbecued pork on top is also quick-frozen pre-made barbecued pork. The wholesale price of a piece of barbecued pork is only about 1 yuan. , Some stores advertise themselves as "handmade Japanese ingredients", but in fact they also use semi-finished products.
Mr. He told reporters that taking sashimi as an example, high-end Japanese food stores that pay attention to materials will choose chilled raw fish ingredients.
Chilling is to slaughter the freshly caught seafood, remove the internal organs and add ice cubes to lock in the umami, and then airlift them to Japanese food stores for sale.
Chilled fish meat is generally bright in color, soft and elastic, but the logistics cost will be higher.
In order to save costs, many domestic Japanese food stores will choose frozen ingredients.
The sweet shrimp commonly found in sashimi is soft and sweet. A serving of sweet shrimp sashimi usually costs 50 or 60 yuan, and the number is only about five or six.
However, on the procurement and wholesale platform, the net weight of 4 catties of sweet shrimp with seeds is only 108 yuan, and 35 yuan of ready-to-eat sweet shrimp with the head, shell, and thawing can be bought. Calculated, the purchase cost of one sweet shrimp is about 1 yuan.
The Arctic shellfish, which looks bright in color, are generally quoted at 205 yuan to 265 yuan due to different sizes.
The commonly used specifications in Japanese food stores can buy 50 to 60 pieces of Arctic shellfish for 245 yuan, and the cost of 1 piece is about 5 yuan.
Salmon sashimi, the mid-section price of domestic salmon that can be eaten directly is about 50 yuan per catty, and the imported price is more than 60 yuan.
Converted, the cost of a piece of salmon sashimi is about 3 yuan.
"Combined in this way, a sashimi platter priced at several hundred yuan in a Japanese food store may actually cost only 20 to 30 yuan." Mr. He said, but consumers do not know this information, and they think they are high-end after seeing the publicity. Ingredients.
Compacting Restaurant Owner Responsibilities
Strengthen daily supervision and inspection
"Some Japanese food stores have long-term problems such as shoddy ingredients and stealing for others, which may constitute fraud to consumers." Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, said that high-end Japanese food products Raw materials, storage, and processing all require high investment, but if merchants reduce the quality of daily materials through the above methods, they can save a lot of economic costs, and many merchants take risks in the face of interests.
According to Chen Yinjiang's analysis, due to the special nature of Japanese ingredients, the problem of ingredients is not easy to be discovered. It is difficult for ordinary consumers to identify the true quality of Japanese ingredients. Even if they find that the ingredients are not right, it is difficult to prove their rights and protect their rights. , The low-cost illegal objectively condones the store's behavior of shoddy and stealing.
In Ren Chao's view, according to the relevant provisions of the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law, the relevant administrative departments within their respective responsibilities shall conduct random inspections on the commodities and services provided by operators on a regular or irregular basis, and promptly announce the results of the random inspections to the public.
Therefore, the market supervision and management department can further protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers within the scope of its responsibilities, regularly or irregularly conduct random inspections on the sources of raw materials for daily food stores, especially high-priced daily food products, and publish the results to the public in a timely manner.
Chen Yinjiang said that in order to regulate the operation of Japanese food stores, the responsibility of the operators must first be complied with. The relevant food supervision departments should supervise and urge relevant catering enterprises to establish and improve food safety management systems through supervision and random inspection and assessment, and strengthen food safety for employees. Knowledge training, the main person in charge should take the lead in implementing the enterprise food safety management system, and be fully responsible for the food safety work of the enterprise.
He added that in addition, it is necessary to strengthen daily supervision and inspection, and conduct a comprehensive inspection of the source of raw materials, storage environment, processing technology and the implementation of relevant food safety systems. Strictly investigate and punish according to law, and expose it to the public.
When consumers encounter food safety or other infringement issues during meals, they should collect evidence in a timely manner to protect their rights in accordance with the law, and report them to the food safety supervision department.
"The catering industry is a fully competitive industry and can set prices independently based on factors such as supply, demand and cost. However, to clearly mark the price, consumers cannot be deceived or misled by false or misleading price means." Chen Yinjiang said.