According to a report by Chao News Client on June 6, recently, a couple in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, in order to leave an unforgettable wedding banquet for relatives and friends, specially chose a high-priced banquet package in a well-known hotel in the city, but after the wedding banquet, the couple was told by relatives and friends that the wedding banquet was not cost-effective, and 5% of the 16 dishes were pre-made dishes. The reporter's investigation found that nearly 7,6000 yuan per table of the wedding banquet can be matched with the same dishes on the menu for more than 1000,<> yuan on the online shopping platform.
With the development of fresh-locking technology and cold chain technology, the variety of pre-made dishes is becoming more and more abundant, and it is no longer limited to the field of ordinary takeaway fast food, and some high-end restaurants and hotel banquets have also begun to use pre-made dishes in large quantities. On the one hand, the development of pre-made dishes has entered a more mature stage, which allows catering enterprises to reduce production costs and improve operational efficiency; On the other hand, many consumers believe that they spend high prices but do not feel the "pot gas", and the cost of pre-made dishes is often lower, which is easy to make people feel "slaughtered".
Relevant industry insiders pointed out that regardless of large and small restaurants, pre-made dishes are a hurdle that cannot be bypassed. Some merchants claim to be suppliers of many star hotels, and their shipments are very large. The reason is that pre-made dishes are very convenient and can reduce costs and increase efficiency for hotels, especially during the previous epidemic, many hotels had to maintain daily operations through staff reduction and cost reduction, and pre-made dishes became a good choice.
Prepared dishes are the product of the large-scale development of the catering industry, with the advantages of standardization, quality consistency, assembly line production, low cost and so on, which is a major change in the phased development of Chinese catering. In the past few years, all sectors of society have worried that Chinese fast food cannot be standardized production, so they cannot compete with Western fast food, and this shortcoming seems to have been made up a lot after the maturity of pre-made food technology. At the same time, pre-made dishes have promoted the rapid development of some chain Chinese restaurants, and also provided convenience for takeaways and hotels, and some consumers themselves will also buy pre-made dishes online and eat them at home.
Therefore, people are not unacceptable to pre-made dishes, but when catering companies use pre-made dishes in large quantities, they do not clearly inform consumers, and many people think that this violates their right to know and choose - instead of spending a high price to eat pre-made dishes in restaurants, buying them back and heating them themselves is not fragrant? After all, Chinese food pays attention to color, aroma, fresh and delicious, and no one will want to be a "wronged leader" and spend the price of freshly made dishes to eat products on the assembly line.
The extensive use of pre-made dishes in some high-end hotels has also raised questions - the banquet consisting of pre-made dishes is very low, and selling them so expensive is suspected of price gouging? It is undeniable that the hotel's decoration, rent, labor and other expenses will be amortized into the cost of the banquet, but the place where consumers are dissatisfied is precisely here, and the pre-made dishes reduce the cost for the hotel, so the banquet price should also be adjusted, so that the value can be comparable.
It can be seen that a clear statement is needed for the use of prepared dishes in the catering industry, not only to meet the consumer's right to know, but also to ensure product quality, safety and reasonable prices, so as to win more space and consensus for the orderly and sustainable development of the prepared vegetable industry.
It should also be noted that relying too much on pre-made dishes can make cooking its essence lost? After all, culinary culture is also an important part of Chinese culture, and sometimes, people pursue not only "pot gas" and "pyrotechnic gas", but also the taste and perception of food culture.
Jiang Debin