The epidemic has changed the purchasing habits of many people and made “hoarding” a new habit. In addition to hoarding some rice flour, grain and oil, the emergence of prefabricated dishes gives us more choices. On April 14, the reporter of Huaxia times visited several large chain supermarkets, including, Carrefour, Yonghui and Wumart supermarkets. In each supermarket, all kinds of pickled meat, pig elbow and ham occupied a large area of refrigerators in the freezing area, while the sales of prefabricated vegetables also increased significantly on several shopping platforms.
On April 14, the reporter of Huaxia times learned from Ding Dong’s shopping that “since March, the sales volume of prefabricated vegetables in Shanghai has increased by more than 50% than usual, and the sales volume of semi-finished clean vegetables has nearly doubled.” In addition, HEMA also disclosed to our reporter that since this round of epidemic, the sales of HEMA prefabricated vegetables have increased by 130% on weekdays. Offline, Metro and Wal Mart told our reporter that the recent sales of their prefabricated vegetable products are very considerable.
capital “speculation”
In addition to the booming Wuxi Online Offline Communication Information Technology Co.Ltd(300959) sales, prefabricated dishes are even more popular in the capital market. From April 11 to April 15, Zhengzhou Qianweiyangchu Food Co.Ltd(001215) rose 23%, Fu Jian Anjoy Foods Co.Ltd(603345) rose 19.7%, Suzhou Weizhixiang Food Co.Ltd(605089) rose 23%, Haixin Foods Co.Ltd(002702) rose 19.34%, Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products Co.Ltd(300094) rose 8.8%. A number of concept stocks performed well in the secondary market.
Although at present, there is no industry standard for the prefabricated food track, the industry concentration is not high, and the head effect has not appeared, the prefabricated food has long been a good target in the eyes of capital and bosses.
Lu Zhengyao, the former founder of Shenzhou car rental, Shenzhou Youche and Ruixing coffee, aims to invest in prefabricated dishes. According to tianyancha app, the tongue tip hero of Lu Zhengyao’s Prefabricated vegetable project has received two rounds of financing, with a round of financing of 550 million yuan from Yingke capital and a round of financing of 1.6 billion yuan from Yingke capital. According to media reports, its contracted stores have reached 6000.
In addition, qudian, a US listed company, also recently announced its entry into the prefabricated vegetable track. It is understood that qudian’s Prefabricated vegetables are for working-class families. Users can place orders online through small programs. After searching, the reporter found that qudian’s Prefabricated vegetable applet has begun to run.
In an interview, Jia Guolong, another catering boss, chairman of Xibei, said that he was willing to bet the rest of his life on Jia Guolong’s Kung Fu dishes. He also said that Xibei will achieve 110 billion revenue in the next 10 years, including 100 billion Kung Fu dishes, while Xibei youmian village only needs 10 billion. The report shows that most of the dishes in Jia Guolong Kung Fu Restaurant are prepared in advance, that is, prefabricated dishes.
In the hot moment of prefabricated dishes, many enterprises cross into this market, but industry insiders pointed out that some enterprises really want to develop prefabricated dishes, but because the performance of prefabricated dish concept stocks was very good before, it does not rule out that some enterprises want to rub the heat.
In addition to the big guys who end up in person, capital is also very interested in the prefabricated vegetable track. Among them, wangjiadu food under Meizhou Dongpo has obtained a round of financing of nearly 100 million yuan from fuxingyuan innovation capital and tomato capital in March last year; Zhenwei xiaomeiyuan, which has been established for only four years, has obtained five rounds of financing, of which bv Baidu venture capital is also in the latest round of investor list. In addition, companies in the industrial chain of prefabricated dishes such as three meals with materials have also successively obtained financing.
With so many players pouring in, how big is the prefabricated vegetable market? According to the data of ncbd, the scale of China’s Prefabricated vegetable market will exceed 300 billion yuan in 2021 and is expected to exceed 830 billion yuan by 2025, of which the scale in the C-end market will account for nearly 30%.
For the future development of the prefabricated food track, Wang Hongdong, founder of catering Baodian and catering analyst, pointed out to our reporter that at present, the prefabricated food industry lacks a standard system, and consumers at the C-end have a relatively shallow understanding of the prefabricated food, but its advantages at the b-end are very obvious, which can help catering enterprises solve many problems, and the b-end will still account for a larger proportion in the future.
prefabricated vegetable enterprises “mixed”
China’s catering market is large-scale, highly dispersed and highly competitive. Most catering enterprises participate in market competition independently, resulting in high costs. The operating costs of catering enterprises are dominated by raw material costs, rent costs and labor costs, and the complex processing process of catering has also become a major problem for the scale of catering enterprises.
Under various restrictions, the willingness of catering enterprises to cook and kitchen has increased. This has also promoted the development of prefabricated dishes. At present, prefabricated food is also mostly used at the b-end. According to the research of CCFA, the proportion of prefabricated food in some Chinese fast food companies can be close to 100%.
In addition to the demand of catering market, the development of cold chain logistics is also one of the reasons for the development of prefabricated vegetable industry. Wang Hongdong analyzed in an interview with Huaxia times: “the maturity of the processing supply chain is the basic condition for the development of prefabricated vegetables.” According to AI media consulting data, the market scale of China’s cold chain logistics industry reached 378 billion yuan in 2019.
It is worth noting that at present, the players of the prefabricated vegetable track are very complex. In addition to the special prefabricated vegetable enterprises, offline catering enterprises and food and supply chain giants have also begun to dabble. Typical prefabricated vegetable enterprises include Suzhou Weizhixiang Food Co.Ltd(605089) , true taste, haodeli, Gaishi food, etc. Among them, Suzhou Weizhixiang Food Co.Ltd(605089) was listed on A-share market in 2021, known as “the first stock of prefabricated vegetables”, while Gaishi food is a listed company on the Beijing stock exchange, mainly engaged in cold dish business.
Catering enterprises, including Haidilao, Xibei catering, Meizhou Dongpo and Guangzhou Restaurant Group Company Limited(603043) are laying out prefabricated dishes. Taking Haidilao as an example, our reporter learned from Haidilao that 180000 Haidilao self heating hot pots have been put into the Shanghai market since the end of March alone.
In Wang Hongdong’s view, “the development of prefabricated dishes by catering enterprises has advantages that other brands do not have. First, they will have higher brand effect and brand awareness. In addition, many products are explosive products that have been tested in the market in offline stores, so they have more trial and error opportunities than enterprises specializing in prefabricated dishes.”
In addition, enterprises with their own development advantages in the supply chain are also sending prefabricated dishes, such as Fu Jian Anjoy Foods Co.Ltd(603345) , Haixin Foods Co.Ltd(002702) , Longda food, Zhengzhou Qianweiyangchu Food Co.Ltd(001215) , Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products Co.Ltd(300094) , xianmeilai, etc., all of which have a certain scale.
industry standard fuzzy
Although the development of prefabricated dishes in the catering industry has become very common, the relevant standards of prefabricated dishes in China are not perfect.
The earliest prefabricated dishes should start with quick-frozen food. At present, prefabricated dishes are divided into four categories: ready to eat, instant hot, instant cooking and instant matching according to the degree of processing. Quick frozen dumplings and dumplings, which are common in our daily life, are also instant cooking products in prefabricated dishes.
On April 14, the reporter of Huaxia times found during the interview that in terms of categories, among the prefabricated vegetable products in supermarkets, quick-frozen rice noodles and brine sausage account for the largest proportion. The former brands are mainly Fu Jian Anjoy Foods Co.Ltd(603345) , Sanquan Food Co.Ltd(002216) , and missing food, while the latter is more scattered. In addition to national brands such as Shuanghui, time-honored brands are also very common. Sausage stew belongs to ready to eat prefabricated dishes.
In addition, instant food refers to food that can be eaten after heating, such as self heating hot pot. The most complex processing process is “instant food”, because its ingredients are only used for preliminary processing such as washing and cutting, so it is difficult to make. This kind of prefabricated dishes with low processing depth also makes many young people who can’t cook sigh that it is too difficult.
Since 2021, the concept of prefabricated dishes has continued to be hot, and many securities companies and research institutions have frequently issued reports optimistic about this track. However, as a rapidly developing track, the prefabricated dishes industry currently has no clear industry norms. Even after instant noodles and ham sausage are considered as prefabricated dishes, the concept of prefabricated dishes began to become more and more vague.
On April 1, the official of China culinary Association announced that the group standard of “Specification for prefabricated vegetable products” applied by Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products Co.Ltd(300094) led by met the project approval conditions, approved the project and entered the publicity stage. It is reported that the group standard of “Specification for prefabricated vegetable products” was jointly drafted by experts from Guangdong Provincial Department of agriculture and rural areas, China Cuisine Association, Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products Co.Ltd(300094) , food and Nutrition Development Institute of the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas and inspection and testing Group Co., Ltd.
However, industry insiders believe that such industry norms led by industry leaders are good to some extent, but whether they can be recognized by other enterprises is a difficult problem.
