China News Service, Changsha, February 6 (Reporter Tang Xiaoqing) Traditional Chinese pastries are beginning to attract young consumer groups. In the past few days, reporters visited major business districts in Changsha and found that the renewed traditional Chinese pastries have attracted many young people to pay for them thanks to their Western-style cooking, healthy recipes, trendy packaging design, youthful taste and good looks.
Butter and black sesame crisps, milk raisin mochi, flower-centered butterfly puff pastry, signature fresh taro milk clams... The new Chinese bakery brand Momo Dim Sum Ju Zhongdian Western-style cooking has broken the impression of traditional Chinese pastries and made Chinese pastries exquisite, compact and The flavors are youthful, mixed and matched, and are as social as snacks. Many co-branded national trendy cultural and creative gift boxes are also very popular.
In January 2024, various shapes of pastries made by Changsha Yixin Chinese pastry shop. Photo by China News Service reporter Tang Xiaoqing
Xie Zhen, partner and marketing director of Momo Dessert Bureau, said that "Guochao" and "IP co-branding" have become a growth accelerator for traditional time-honored brands and cutting-edge Chinese pastry brands. Momo Dim Sum Bureau combines the traditional craft of shadow puppetry and innovatively launches the "Drama Out of the East" pastry gift box during the Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival which is very popular. "After DIY, the gift box instantly turns into a stage. While the family eats pastries, they can perform shadow puppet shows such as Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, Journey to the West, and Calabash Brothers together."
Traditional time-honored brands are also targeting the consumption situation of young people pursuing the "national trend" and developing new varieties and new flavors. Daoxiang Village, founded in Suzhou in 1773, has launched national trendy souvenir gift boxes such as Qianlong's Visit to the Shop and Suzhou Garden, as well as creative new national trend Suzhou-style pastries such as National Color Youth and Peace and Joy.
Zhou Liyuan, deputy general manager and general manager of the marketing center of Daoxiangcun Group, said that rich and exquisite Chinese pastries will be a social tool for young people during the Spring Festival. "The gift box focuses on the meaning of 'Fu', and is named Gilded Na Fu, Fu Yun Chang Long, and New Year Fu Li. The design and packaging are full of traditional Spring Festival elements, and the cake combination is also full of blessing meanings, including Fulong Cake, Lucky Crispy, and Full of Blessings." Cake, Longhua Fortune Cake, fills the atmosphere of the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon.”
In addition to becoming "trendy", the taste and "appearance" of Chinese pastries have also captured the appetites of young people. Xie Zhen said that with the popularity of health care among young people, Chinese pastries are also reducing sugar and fat, and will achieve zero sugar, zero oil and zero fat in the future. The colors are also constantly iterated to make Chinese pastries more beautiful.
Chinese pastries in various colors and shapes, including tender green, light pink, goose yellow, lotus, lotus leaf, persimmon, peanut, koi carp, attract young people to pay. Red bean and raw coconut latte-flavored rice cakes are "coated" with exquisite "coats" printed with "Jiao Luck!"
"Young consumers are very receptive to innovations in shapes and flavors while maintaining the taste of traditional pastries to meet their free-range New Year consumption needs." said Peng Linting, a clerk at Wu Susheng, which specializes in Chinese palace pastries.
Jiuruzhai, a time-honored brand in Changsha, captures the characteristics of young people who like to take pictures and check in. It packages Chinese pastries in a nostalgic style, making them into shapes such as strawberries, lucky bags, lucky cats, pandas, etc., and launches milk tea and chocolate flavors that young people like. "In the past, Chinese dim sum had a single shape and was high in sugar and calories. Nowadays, while major dim sum brands are spreading Chinese traditional food culture, they are also moving closer to the aesthetics and preferences of young people." said Xu Bin, the pastry chef of Jiuruzhai. The rise of "trendy pastries" also means the improvement of cultural confidence among young Chinese consumers.
Peng Lanxuan, an 18-year-old girl from Hengyang, Hunan, bought mochi, peach cakes and Chinese-style packaged rice cakes for her family at a Chinese pastry shop in Wuyi Square, Changsha. She believes that Chinese pastries can also be deeply integrated with various life scenes such as tea drinks and games, bringing a new definition and new consumption experience of Chinese pastries.
In the Mid-Autumn Festival of 2021, Changsha Yixin Chinese Pastry Shop launched a shadow puppet show national trend pastry gift box. (Photo provided by interviewee)
The "2023 China Chinese Pastry Industry Innovation and Consumer Demand Insight Report" released by iiMedia Research stated that China's baked food market will continue to expand, and the market size of China's baked food industry is expected to reach 306.99 billion yuan (RMB, the same below) in 2023, year-on-year With a growth of 7.6%, the market size will reach 351.8 billion yuan in 2025; new Chinese pastries have become a new hot spot and have strong development momentum.
"Capital from all walks of life are competing for food, and competition in the Chinese pastry market is fierce, but young people's preferences are an important factor that cannot be ignored." Xie Zhen said that Momo Dessert Bureau will also combine nuclear carving, golden pestle dough sculptures, facial makeup painting, New Chinese-style pastries are developed using intangible cultural heritage elements such as cloisonné enamel and Changsha brown braid.
Zhou Liyuan said that Chinese pastries will be fully transformed and upgraded to be younger, healthier, more distinctive and customized, and will try the application of digital technology, so that consumers can not only buy physical gift boxes, but also obtain corresponding digital collections. (over)