At present, the prefabricated dishes are more like a box, which is filled with everything: instant food, frozen food, dish seasoning, clean dishes

The prefabricated dishes above the "tuyere" are grouped together according to the new classification method of "instant food, instant hot food, instant cooked food and instant prepared food".

Since it is to eat, it is inseparable from condiments, and the popularity of prefabricated dishes also makes many condiment enterprises salivate. However, prefabricated dishes can be regarded as a brand-new track, and they are still in the market cultivation period. For condiment enterprises, the advantages and disadvantages are also obvious.

In the "box" of prefabricated dishes, when condiment enterprises enter on a large scale, it can be predicted that some enterprises may make "pots full and boxes full", while others may draw water in bamboo boxes. Therefore, before condiments enter the prefabricated dishes, they should calm down and practice their "internal skills". The most important thing is to find their own advantages and avoid blindly following the trend. Otherwise, they will not only fail to fly to the sky with the wind of the prefabricated dishes, but may also lose their existing advantages in the main business.

01

Is the prefabricated dish a real outlet or a fake demand?

In fact, in the past two years, the debate about whether the prefabricated dishes are real or fake has never stopped, and it seems difficult to give an answer in the short term.

It is true that the main reason is that the growth rate of prefabricated dishes is really fast thanks to the level of major channels. At least this is reflected in the data released by various platforms or institutions. Interestingly, since the popularity of prefabricated dishes, various securities platforms have also come down to "prefabricated dish concept stocks", with more than 30 constituent stocks, including the "first stock of prefabricated dishes" we are familiar with, Guolian aquatic products, Golden Arowana for grain and oil, Quanjude for catering, Longda food for meat products, Sanquan food for quick-frozen food, etc.

First of all, from the growth rate:

According to CCTV finance and economics, in the whole March, the sales of prefabricated vegetables in China increased by more than 100% year-on-year, while in Shanghai, the sales of prefabricated vegetables increased by 250% year-on-year in the last half month.

The report on the consumption trend of instant food in Jingdong supermarket in 2022 released by Jingdong supermarket and Jingdong consumption and Industrial Development Research Institute on May 13 pointed out that the turnover of prefabricated vegetables in 2021 increased by 156% year-on-year. During the May Day holiday this year, the turnover of prefabricated vegetables increased by more than 250% year-on-year; The turnover of prefabricated vegetables in Beijing increased by more than 270% year-on-year.

According to the takeout data of meituan, as of May 11, the total number of stores selling prefabricated dishes had reached 297, and 665 kinds of prefabricated dishes had been launched.

According to the 2021 annual consumption trend report released by dingdong shopping, the sales volume of the whole line of prefabricated vegetables in 2021 increased by 300% compared with that in 2020, and the penetration rate of prefabricated vegetables' orders in the overall orders exceeded 40%. During the Spring Festival in 2022, the sales volume of high-end prefabricated vegetables increased by more than 3 times year-on-year, 3million prefabricated vegetables were sold in seven days, and the transaction unit price doubled year-on-year. From April 24 to May 15, 2022, the overall sales volume of prefabricated vegetables in Beijing increased by more than 50% month on month.

Secondly, from the price point of view, according to JD's report, the turnover of prefabricated dishes at the price of 51-100 yuan in 2021 increased the fastest year-on-year, reaching 178%. In terms of the proportion of turnover, the price of 36-50 yuan is the most popular. Overall, consumers' acceptance of prefabricated vegetables has significantly improved.

Who on earth is buying prefabricated vegetables? The report points out that the proportion of online prefabricated vegetables purchased in East China and North China in 2021 is 34% and 33% respectively. Among them, the top three provinces (including municipalities directly under the central government) in the proportion of online consumption of prefabricated dishes are Shanghai, Beijing and Zhejiang, accounting for 17.1%, 16.8% and 11.5% respectively; The top three provinces with the fastest growth rate were Gansu, Zhejiang and Hubei, with growth rates of 592%, 587% and 360% respectively.

From the enterprise level, in 2021, weizhixiang achieved an operating revenue of 765million yuan, an increase of 22.84% year-on-year. The net profit was 133million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.06%. In addition, the year-on-year growth rate of Guolian aquatic prefabricated dishes business was 15.2%, that of Anjing food prefabricated dishes business was 112.41%, that of Qianwei central kitchen prefabricated dishes was 34.35%, that of Longda food prefabricated dishes was 29.49%, and that of Haixin food prefabricated dishes was 58.93%

Obviously, from the perspective of sales quota, price range, consumption area, enterprise level and other dimensions, prefabricated dishes seem to have entered the popular stage, and greater growth momentum seems to be imminent.

Under the situation of high-speed growth, should we also calmly think again, for example, the higher the growth rate, another possibility: the base is too low?

Among many prefabricated vegetable enterprises, weizhixiang naturally takes prefabricated vegetables as its main business, and its meat products achieved a revenue of 533million yuan, accounting for 70.68% of the annual main business revenue, of which the beef category achieved a revenue of 355million yuan, accounting for 47.10% of the annual main business revenue. What about the performance of other enterprises?

Similarly, taking 2021 as an example, the revenue of Guolian aquatic prefabricated dishes business was 841million yuan, accounting for 18.8% of the total revenue; The business revenue of Anjing food prefabricated vegetables was 1.429 billion yuan, accounting for 15.4% of the total revenue; The total revenue of delis quick-frozen conditioning products and beef series products was only 447million yuan, accounting for 14.28% of the total revenue; The revenue of Longda food prefabricated dishes reached RMB 1.182 billion, accounting for 6.06% of the total revenue; The sales revenue of Haixin food quick-frozen dish products was 11.3258 million yuan, accounting for 0.73% of the operating revenue; The sales volume of Qianwei central kitchen's Prefabricated dishes is only more than 14million yuan, accounting for only about 1.1% of the total revenue. However, under Yike food, a well-known large-scale leading poultry food enterprise in China, the output of prepared cooked food in prefabricated vegetables was only 24600 tons, with a year-on-year decrease of 12.88%, which was the only category with a decrease.

So far, it is not difficult to see that among the many prefabricated vegetable concept stocks, in addition to the taste and fragrance, the prefabricated vegetables of the above-mentioned major enterprises account for less than 20% of the overall revenue, and the base is naturally not much larger, right?

From the perspective of the most important consumer end, the current prefabricated dishes also have obvious shortcomings.

On the one hand, the classification of prefabricated dishes is not clear. According to the traditional understanding, since it is a prefabricated dish, it includes several key components such as main ingredients, side dishes, seasonings, etc. in addition to the categories we commonly understand, the current prefabricated dishes include quick-frozen dumplings, steamed bread, self heated rice and even instant noodles; There are both takeout packages and clean vegetables in the food material supermarket... Even if consumers see or even buy them, they may not regard them as prefabricated dishes;

On the other hand, the growth of prefabricated dishes currently seen mainly comes from online platforms or channels, while it is difficult to evaluate offline. It is mainly because of the category characteristics of prefabricated dishes, which are not suitable for circulation at all terminals, such as the requirements for cold chain logistics and hurry, the circulation requirements for short-term insurance products and the requirements for consumption scenarios.

The most important thing is that prefabricated dishes are not new. At present, it is difficult for most consumers to understand the difference between prefabricated dishes and cooking bags. Therefore, the psychological acceptance of prefabricated dishes by most consumers has yet to be changed. In addition, the current prefabricated dishes do not have a large audience base for the Chinese market with rich food culture.

Therefore, the current C-end consumers' evaluation of prefabricated dishes is not high. In order to completely open this "knot", we need to talk about products and quality. The most important thing is that this time will not be short.

02

The prefabricated dishes of condiment enterprises are beginning to show their true colors, but

In the field of condiments, whether the prefabricated dishes are real or fake, it does not hinder the determination of major condiment enterprises to "grab parking spaces" and disclose their ambitions in the field of prefabricated dishes.

As early as 2021, Golden Arowana said that the central kitchen was an important new business segment of the company.

On May 18, golden dragon fish said on the investor interaction platform that at present, Hangzhou central kitchen is the first central kitchen project of the company in operation. In addition, the company's central kitchen projects in Chongqing, Langfang, Xianyang, Zhoukou and other places are under construction. The planned production capacity of Hangzhou Fengchu is 40 tons / day of prefabricated vegetables, 120000 portions / day of Bento and 4.8 tons / day of sauces. At present, Hangzhou Fengchu has begun to produce Bento packages. During the epidemic period, it has supplied some epidemic prevention meals and guarantee meals to Hangzhou and Shanghai. As the business has just started, the overall scale is still very small.

On January 5, Zhongjing food said on the investor interaction platform that Zhongjing food insists on focusing on good taste. At present, its products have partially served the customers of prefabricated dishes and it has a business plan for the prefabricated dishes business. The relevant person in charge of Zhongjing food also said that Xixia County, where Zhongjing food is located, is rich in mushroom resources. Next, the prefabricated dishes of Zhongjing food will focus on "mushroom +" and "family banquet".

On February 17, in response to investors' questions on the interactive platform, Zhongju high tech said that prefabricated dishes are a hot field in the near future, which the company is actively studying. At present, no exact development plan has been formed. On May 6, Zhongju high tech still said that the prefabricated vegetable company was also actively studying

On March 25, at the 2021 annual performance conference of Haitian flavor industry, Zhang Xin, Secretary of the board of directors of Haitian flavor industry, said: "the field of (prefabricated dishes) is highly related to condiments, and the company is also actively investigating."

On April 6, Hengshun vinegar industry publicly stated on the interactive platform that with the development of "house economy", prefabricated dishes have begun to rise. The company has actively developed and distributed the product series to provide more convenient and healthier products to consumers.

On April 25, Sipu Sipu said to the public that more than 300 restaurants of Sipu Sipu and cobble in Beijing were operating normally, and the stock of raw materials was increased. At the same time, Xiabu also announced that its Xiabu food has launched a number of new prefabricated dishes and microwave rice products, laying out a track of prefabricated dishes, fast food economy and home economy. It is reported that the company's Prefabricated dishes such as gelatinous chicken and pork tripe chicken have been launched on the e-commerce platform, and the next step is to lay out offline supermarkets. Microwave rice, such as rice with barbecued pork in sauce and pepper, beef rice with pickled pepper, and beef rice with curry, will also be available in May this year.

In addition to these listed enterprises, non listed enterprises such as xinyaxuan and chuanwazi, which also belong to the field of condiments, are also gearing up.

Up to now, we only see the prefabricated food products of Golden Arowana, and the prefabricated food of other condiment brands are just some previous composite condiments or convenience foods, such as Zhongjing's various dish condiments, Yihai International's various convenience or self heating foods, which are more like "old wine in a new pot".

Among the many seasoning related enterprises that have entered the prefabricated vegetables, I am only optimistic about the Golden Arowana, while more enterprises will eventually become suppliers of prefabricated vegetables, or even just seasoning bags.

Why? It's time to go back to what we said at the beginning to see our own advantages. After all, in the past years, there are not a few cases in which condiment enterprises have "become rich because of condiments" and started a diversified layout of multiple formats. Finally, not only their advantages in the field of condiments are gone, but their diversified businesses are only chicken feathers ".

First of all, no matter what kind of food to make, cost is the key, and prefabricated dishes are no exception. This "capital" includes not only capital, but also a series of soft power such as channels, brands and audiences.

For example, at present, the prefabricated dishes mainly aim at the to B channel and the online market. At the "Tao of wealth" activity of the venture capital salon organized by Sina, wangxiaofei, founder and chairman of the board of directors of the six corners of Ma, pointed out that one of the characteristics of prefabricated dishes is that the channel to obtain customers is the most expensive one, because if you want to build a brand, how can you attract your guests? First, it is related to the product. Second, it is related to the brand and product experience. While to B prefabricated dishes will pay great attention to the cost. The profit of the merchant comes from the price you give him. It will certainly pay very strict attention to the price and cost.

From the audience level, the prefabricated dishes are mainly young white-collar workers and other fast-paced people, and they are also mainly concentrated in the online market. In December last year, Ding Dong's Department of buying and prefabricating vegetables organized a round of user research. Combined with the big data of annual user consumption, Ding Dong found that the mainstream consumers of prefabricating vegetables can cook, are good at cooking, pay attention to health, and have a relatively high quality of life. According to the survey, Ding Dong shopping combs the mainstream consumers of prefabricated vegetables on the platform into three specific characteristics: first, users who can cook and have high quality; Second, these people have a high pursuit of health and food safety; Third, they are relatively insensitive to price, and the customer unit price is 30% higher than the platform on average.

It can be seen that prefabricated dishes are indeed a very worthwhile industry, but if you ask the condiment enterprises whether they are suitable or not, I am afraid it will be a big question mark.

In the to C channel, almost most of the condiment enterprises have no advantages in terms of some fragmented demands such as cold chain, short-term insurance and marketing required by e-commerce or offline. The most important thing is that at present, most condiment brands have been equated with condiments. It is difficult for consumers to reverse their inherent category impression of the brand. If they want to open a new brand, whether consumers can accept or recognize it is another long education process.

Whether to B or to C, the biggest advantage of condiment enterprises lies in "seasoning". If they do not make a difference in the field of prefabricated dishes, the first to make achievements is either the accumulation of b-end channels or the relatively sound industrial layout. Most condiment enterprises belong to the former.

Condiment enterprises have entered into prefabricated dishes. The catering channels such as Golden Arowana, Haitian flavor industry, which have a relatively high proportion of industrial layout, and the advantages of enterprises such as richen holdings and xinyaxuan, which are dominated by catering customization, will be more obvious. After all, the most important reason why they can win the b-end customers is to help users save costs. When the cost performance ratio is enough, they can provide seasoning or provide prefabricated dishes to enterprises, There is not much difference, but the difference lies in how enterprises adapt to and meet the flexible needs of customers.

Therefore, it is a better way for condiment enterprises to consider whether to enter the field of prefabricated dishes after making condiments based on their own advantages.