What do consumers think of ＂prefabricated dishes＂ in restaurants？

    Less than 10 minutes after placing an order in the restaurant, complex meals such as braised pork and chicken with gelatin have been served, which makes many consumers worry: Is this a prepared dish?

    In recent years, the prefabricated vegetable industry with the signboard of "cooking a big meal in 30 minutes" has developed rapidly and become the "new favorite" of consumers. However, consumers have different views on eating prefabricated dishes in restaurants and restaurants. So, will it be a trend for restaurants to use prefabricated dishes in large quantities? What will be the next growth point of prefabricated vegetables?

    Fast food restaurants and chain stores are big customers of prefabricated dishes.

    How common are prepared dishes in restaurants, restaurants and take-away platforms?

    "Just 5 minutes after placing the order, the food on the merchant’s side is ready." Many consumers find that it is more and more common for merchants to use prefabricated dishes in take-away platforms.

    According to the data of China Chain Store & Franchise Association, at present, the biggest downstream demand of the prefabricated vegetable industry comes from catering enterprises, accounting for 80%. Snack fast food restaurants, chain stores, food and beverage outlets that focus on take-out, rural kitchens, group dining halls, etc. are the main scenarios for the application of prefabricated dishes. Among them, the proportion of prefabricated dishes used in some head chain catering enterprises is already high, and more than 80% of the dishes in some restaurants are prefabricated dishes. With the development of fresh-keeping technology and cold chain technology, there are more and more varieties of prefabricated Caicai, and some high-end restaurants and hotel banquets also start to use prefabricated dishes frequently.

    So, why do these restaurants love to use prefabricated dishes?

    A merchant who specializes in barbecue on the Meituan takeaway platform revealed to reporters that more than half of the dishes in the store, such as mutton kebabs, fried chicken pieces, crispy pickled cucumbers and cold pork head, are prefabricated dishes. "The prepared dishes we choose are basically common brands in the industry, such as Tai Sen, Lufeng, etc. Only my signature chicken wings are pickled by ourselves." The merchant said, "There’s nothing we can do. We are open until midnight every day, not only for in-house meals, but also for take-away orders, with about 40 kinds of dishes. If you don’t choose prefabricated dishes, it is very likely that you will not meet the timeliness requirements. "

    Cheng Li, deputy dean of the Food College of Jiangnan University, told the reporter that prefabricated vegetables are a large-scale industrial production, with long-chain attributes and the characteristics of centralized procurement, centralized sales and centralized pricing. "For restaurants and enterprise producers, the use of prefabricated dishes can enrich supply, improve effectiveness and reduce labor costs." Cheng Li said.

    Most catering enterprises recognize the advantages of time-saving and labor-saving prefabricated dishes and relatively low cost, but whether to choose prefabricated dishes or not, enterprises have their own considerations.

    Some restaurants use pre-made dishes developed by their own brands to ensure their own characteristics. Youmian Fish, Spicy Sheep Scorpion, Mongolian Cattle Bone, Mongolian Cheese Cake … In Xibei Youmian Village, these prefabricated dishes are very popular. "We have been walking on the track of prefabricated dishes for many years." The person in charge of the offline store in Xibei Youmian Village told the reporter that since 2019, Xibei has explored the prefabricated vegetable industry, and in September of that year, it launched the first prefabricated vegetable product, Yangzizi. Take oat noodle fish as an example, and it is a popular staple food on the menu in Xibei restaurant online. The team invested a lot of time in the research and development of packaging and presentation forms, which not only restored the taste of in-store meals, but also made them easy to process, controlled the packaging cost and reduced the unit price of customers.

    There are also some restaurants that choose not to use prefabricated dishes, including high-end restaurants made by fresh chefs and "time-honored" shops with authentic flavor. The former not only sells dishes, but also sells thoughtful and intimate service and superior dining environment; The latter sells taste, as well as "unique" flavor and decades of persistence.

    Huawei Meat Pie, located in Panjiayuan, Beijing, is such a small shop. Asked why we don’t use prefabricated dishes, the staff in the store told reporters: "Using prefabricated dishes does more harm than good for us. Our shop is small, and there are few dishes altogether. The business of this head office has always been good. If the taste of meat pie changes, our foundation will be gone. " The noise of the diners’ laughter and laughter persisted for a long time, and Mr. Zhang, a Beijinger sitting on the side, said with emotion: "In high school, after playing ball with my brothers, I loved to come to this store to eat meat pies. For more than 10 years, this taste has not changed. " Mr. Zhang believes that prefabricated dishes can’t be said badly, but the flavor of small shops is the "password" to attract old customers.

    Consumers value taste and want to understand consumption.

    Consumers have different opinions when they eat prefabricated dishes in restaurants.

    Some consumers think that eating out can’t be without "pot gas", and the cost of prefabricated dishes is generally low. Eating prefabricated dishes after spending money gives people a feeling of being slaughtered. Recently, in order to leave an unforgettable wedding banquet for relatives and friends in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, a couple specially chose an expensive banquet package in a well-known hotel in the city. However, after the wedding banquet, the couple were told by their relatives and friends that the wedding banquet was not cost-effective, and 70% of the 16 dishes were prefabricated. Yan Min, a girl from Shenzhen who is preparing for the wedding, told reporters that a similar situation could not be accepted. "If the hotel told me that the food was prepared, I would definitely not choose this hotel." Yan Min said, "Isn’t it just to eat dishes that you can’t cook at home?"

    Some consumers think that as long as the hotel informs them in advance, they don’t care whether they prepare dishes. Mr. Lai, an office worker in Beijing, told reporters: "I can’t cook myself. Prefabricated dishes can be described as the’ gospel’ of our office workers. Just go home and heat them in the microwave oven. If you eat out, as long as the merchant clearly marks the menu as a prepared dish or actively tells me. For restaurants, it can reduce production costs and improve operating efficiency; And I enjoyed the faster serving speed and efficient service, which I think is acceptable. "

    It is understood that even in restaurants where a large number of prefabricated dishes are introduced, the chef team will still cook a certain proportion of dishes, such as restaurant signature dishes and green vegetables. Some consumers said that it is very important to inform in advance, so that consumers can decide for themselves whether they can eat the prepared dishes immediately after ordering or whether they are willing to wait for a while to taste the chef’s skills.

    Many consumers believe that the taste of dishes is the most important, but it doesn’t matter whether it is prefabricated or not. "If it’s not delicious, whether it’s a prepared dish or not, I won’t buy it." Ms. Yan, who lives in Shanghai, told reporters that she has two daughters. She usually takes her children to restaurants to eat, and pays more attention to whether the dishes are low in oil and salt, whether the vegetarian dishes are balanced and healthy, and whether the food safety is up to standard. "If the pre-cooked food implements a higher standard of food safety or stricter ingredients and tastes delicious, then I am very happy." Ms. Yan said.

    Some consumers are worried that the extensive use of prefabricated dishes in restaurants will lead to the same taste and may have a negative impact on food culture. "Gourmet cooking is an important part of China culture. I think eating is not only a satiety, but also a taste of delicious food, and I have a taste and understanding of the traditional food culture in China. " Mr. Zhang said, "If all the dishes are produced in the factory assembly line, what’s the point of tasting delicious food?"

    Let advanced food technology accelerate from laboratory to market.

    Prefabricated dishes appear more and more frequently in consumers’ field of vision, behind which is the rapid development of China’s prefabricated dish industry. On the industrial track of prefabricated vegetables, enterprises from agriculture, food processing, catering, e-commerce, logistics and other fields have gathered, which has become an important driving force for innovative consumption scenarios.

    According to the consulting data of Ai Media, the scale of China prefabricated vegetable market will reach 419.6 billion yuan in 2022, and it is expected to reach 1,072 billion yuan in 2026. In the long run, with the development and quality improvement of the prefabricated vegetable industry in China, the proportion of prefabricated vegetables will reach more than 60%, which is expected to reach a scale of more than 3 trillion yuan, and there is a great room for development in the future. According to the enterprise survey data, by the end of 2022, there were 64,000 pre-cooked food-related enterprises in China, and the number of registered enterprises increased year by year in the past 10 years, including 12,600 in 2020.

    In fact, compared with overseas, China’s prefabricated vegetable market started late. The prefabricated vegetable industry originated in the United States. In 1980s, the processing and distribution of prefabricated vegetables rose in Japan, Canada and some European countries. After decades of development, in the United States and Japan, the penetration rate of pre-cooked vegetables has exceeded 50%, which has spawned large-scale pre-cooked vegetable enterprises with great influence, such as SVSCO, ConAgra, Tai Sen, Rileng and Kobe, and added certainty and reference model for the development prospect of China’s pre-cooked vegetable industry.

    During the interview, many experts said that it is a trend for a certain number and proportion of prepared dishes to enter restaurants. At present, the acceptance level is not high, mainly because the standards and tastes need to be improved.

    According to reports, in recent years, there are many entrants in the field of prefabricated vegetables, but the strength and production level of enterprises are uneven, and there are still shortcomings in raw material traceability, standardized production and cold chain logistics distribution.

    Take pickled fish as an example, some manufacturers implement the national standards for animal aquatic products, while others implement the standards for quick-frozen prepared food, and even the standards for pickled fish with two flavors from the same manufacturer are different. Experts suggest that the standard system should be improved as soon as possible, the definition and scope of prefabricated vegetables should be clarified, and the raw materials, processing technology, storage and cold chain transportation should be standardized accordingly.

    "No matter how consumers look at it, the development of prefabricated dishes objectively faces some pain points and difficulties, such as not being delicious enough and low taste reduction." Chen Huifang, general manager of Box Horse Prefabricated Vegetable Department, said that the key technology of prefabricated vegetables is to lock fresh. Since 2017, the fresh prefabricated dishes represented by the brand of Box Horse Workshop have officially debuted. Up to now, there are more than 1,000 kinds of omni-channel prefabricated dishes on sale every month, which are divided into multiple warm layers and multiple forms: ready-to-eat, instant cooking, instant heating, pre-mixed dishes, and instant dishes. Where do delicious prepared dishes come from? Chen Huifang believes that it is based on three dimensions: freshness, novelty and new scenes. "This year, we will accelerate the development of new products in an all-round way, create quality and differentiated prefabricated dishes, and break the homogenization dilemma that crayfish, grilled fish, pickled fish and festivals are unavoidable in the market." Chen Huifang said.

    Cheng Li believes that the rational and safe use of science and technology and the improvement of innovative research and development capabilities are the next breaking point of prefabricated vegetables. "Around’ delicious’, a series of technologies such as vegetable deactivation, molecular cooking embedding, fish deodorization, radio frequency sterilization, preheating and fresh keeping can greatly improve the taste reduction of prefabricated dishes." Cheng Li said that the development of pre-cooked dishes is inseparable from the support of advanced technology. Under the fierce market competition, innovative research and development is an important breakthrough, and advanced food technology should be accelerated from laboratory to market.

    "For prefabricated vegetable enterprises, delicious food determines how high it can go, and safety determines how far it can go." Cheng Li believes that to improve consumers’ cognition and recognition of prefabricated dishes, we should encourage innovation and strengthen the guidance and supervision of the prefabricated dish industry, so that prefabricated dishes can become healthy, safe and delicious dishes that consumers like.