Under the influence of novel coronavirus pneumonia, many 90 and 00 began to enter the kitchen. Besides the necessary cooking skills, the taste became a problem of "big trouble" which troubled them. Compound condiment can solve the problem of "cooking difficulties": after preparing the ingredients, only the sauce can be poured into the pot to make "hard dish" such as pickled fish, Mao blood and so on.

Stimulated by the new demand, the compound condiment track has been quite lively since this year. Many enterprises have announced a new round of financing news one after another. Well-known institutions such as Gaoling, IDG and Jingwei China have also begun to inject capital into bibimbap sauce, hot pot seasoning and other categories. Recently, Chaotianmen wharf, a hot pot seasoning and convenience fast food brand, also announced the completion of nearly 100 million yuan pre-A round of financing, and launched derivative products such as composite condiments based on the regional characteristics of Chongqing.

The battle for the local market of compound condiments kicked off

Behind the lively financing events in the field of compound condiments, brands and capital are eyeing young consumer groups under the "lazy house economy". In recent years, the performance of seasoning companies such as Haitian flavor industry, Zhongju Gaoxin and Hengshun vinegar industry in the secondary market has further strengthened the investor's confidence in the track.

Since this year, there have been many entrants, including capital bets such as Gaoling, Jingwei China and Xianfeng Changqing, as well as the territory expansion of old brands such as Haitian flavor industry, Li Jinji and Fuling mustard. It is worth noting that the organization no longer only pays attention to the oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar itself. The quick prefabricated soy sauce soup of hot pot soup, rice dressing sauce with meals, spicy pot, large plate chicken and other dishes has become its favorite subdivision track. In other words, it is the compound condiment that has supported this round of financing fever.

At the same time, traditional enterprises that have been buried in the condiment industry for many years have also joined the scuffle of taste upgrading. For example, last year, Haitian flavor industry successively launched compound condiments made of crayfish, spicy stir fry and other dishes; Not long ago, Li Jinji introduced new products such as sour and refreshing golden soup sauce and spicy pot sauce; In addition, brands such as Haidilao and three squirrels, which are not satisfied with the original field, are also eager to try and actively innovate. Driven by capital, the battle for the local market of compound condiments has begun.

High growth, but the industry pattern is scattered and the concentration is low

Frost Sullivan data show that in 2020, the scale of China's composite condiment market was about 150 billion yuan, with an annual compound growth rate of about 15.83%, higher than the overall condiment industry.

The rapid growth comes from the huge market demand. Shen yueren, the founder of Jiadian flavor, believes that at the C-end, the huge single population, smaller and smaller family units, the increase in the proportion of women's employment and the reduction of family care time are driving people's demand for convenient and scene flavoring products. At the b-end, the high degree of chain and central factory of catering enterprises have also led to a sharp increase in the compound demand for condiments in the catering industry.

Although the demand is huge and the market is broad, the current compound condiment market is characterized by low share, scattered industry pattern and low concentration. According to public data, the penetration of compound condiments in China is far lower than that in developed countries. In 2019, the CR3 of Chinese compound condiments market was only 9.8%, and even in the more mature hot pot seasoning market, its Cr5 was only 35.4% (12.6% if considering non packaged seasoning).

The market pattern of high growth, new demand and dispersion provides a rare opportunity for start-ups. AI Xiao, vice president of Qingshan capital investment, believes that for start-ups, composite condiments are more suitable for producing brand content, interact with more consumption scenes, and have more contacts to meet the needs of young consumers. In the future, this track is expected to "run out" of 3-5 head companies. The key is to use a set of relatively stable methodology to continuously make taste innovation, integrate at the end of the supply chain, quickly feed back the needs of front-end users to the factory, quickly iterate, and firmly grasp the stomach of users.

Chen Yun, vice president of Qingliu capital, also said that at present, there is fierce competition in the head of hot pot seasoning, but the segmentation of other composite seasonings is still in a highly decentralized stage. There are a large number of opportunities for categories and brands. The Internet will accelerate the touch of brands, quickly establish the cognition of categories and accelerate the process of user education.

China Food News (version 04, August 12, 2021)