When the epidemic is over, can people’s enthusiasm for “cooking at home” keep the fire of semi-finished vegetables burning?
Editor’s note: This article comes from WeChat public account “Li Beichen” (ID: future-is-coming) author: Lee North Star.
During the epidemic, a friend of mine living in Shenzhen suddenly wanted to drink a cup of bamboo grass water. After trying a circle of take-out, she found that there was a “semi-finished” grass bamboo grass cane that can be delivered on a fresh platform. Although she had to wait for an hour or two to arrive, it was enough to please her.
Each of the above scenarios may explain why the “semi-finished dishes”, a kind of fire that was about to be burned out, has recently rekindled, and new firewood has been added, attracting the attention of the giants in the fresh and catering industry chain: Not long ago, two fresh e-commerce companies, Hema and Daily Fresh, announced the strategy of releasing semi-finished dishes first; increasing the sales proportion of semi-finished products has also become a major source of open source for catering companies during the epidemic.
As we all know, the epidemic has turned everyone into a chef. Intuitively, it seems that it can indeed deduce more people’s demand for semi-finished dishes.
But the real question is: Can the growth curve brought by the “cooking for all” be sustainable after the epidemic? Have the “pits” that once hindered the development of semi-finished vegetables been filled?
The former “pit”
Let’s answer a question first: what is a “semi-finished dish”?
A netizen said well: “In my memory, this semi-finished dish has been sold in the supermarket for at least ten years. The main ingredients and side dishes have been cut. I bought it and fried it with oil and salt. People think such dishes are not new-at least my mother thinks so. “
In fact, the so-called “semi-finished dishes” basically means that the raw materials (meat and poultry dishes, etc.) required for a dish have been processed, and you can make them directly. It is neither a “new species” nor has it ever attracted capital attention.
About a few years ago, I myself was a deep user of the “three-minute 321cooking” brand of fresh semi-finished vegetables under the kitchen. At that time, the semi-finished dishes were still new. The duck soup and sweet and sour steaks that can be prepared can also instantly harvest the praise of “You will cook!” In the circle of friends.
That was my rare “cooking” experience before the epidemic.
Because the good times are not long, at the end of 2018, the “three-minute 321cooking” issued an announcement, sadly announced the suspension of business, and wrote on the farewell letter “the pit of fresh and semi-finished products. Emotional words.
Why is this happening?
At that time, the industry generally believed that distribution and preservation were the two core pain points that restricted the development of semi-finished vegetables. Users wanted fast and fresh, but many of the semi-finished dishes at that time were delivered the next day. For users, it was better to buy fresh products directly or order takeaway.
In the past few years, this fresh semi-finished product was able to be nibbled, and more of it began with the helpless restaurant brand.
At the beginning of March, Haidilao launched its semi-finished business, “It’s time to start a meal”, which includes 12 homemade dishes and 4 delicious soups, including Kung Pao shrimp balls, fish-flavored shredded pork, and Mapo tofu. More catering companies are distributing semi-finished food through other platforms, and some small catering companies sell themselves at the store entrance.
Under the upsurge, fresh produce platforms are not far behind.
According to media reports, the average daily sales of semi-finished dishes in Hema Workshop from the Spring Festival to the present day are more than 10 times the usual. Hema also established the first-level department 3R Division (3R = Ready to cook, Ready to heat, Ready to eat) for the first time this year, largely to accelerate the expansion of semi-finished products.
Well, in a special period, the rise of semi-finished dishes is very similar to the ubiquitous CP of market demand and resource allocation, which has formed some tacit understanding in the field of fresh produce.
New outlet or pseudo demand?
But the question is, when the epidemic is over, can people’s enthusiasm for “cooking at home” keep the fire of semi-finished vegetables burning?
The answer is different, but one thing is certain. If the birth of a new species is just an accidental genetic mutation, then the rise of the “new species” requires two forces that are not incompatible: technological progress and renewal of ideas.
It is not difficult to find that compared to a few years ago, both at the technical and conceptual levels, semi-finished dishes have at least reached the stage of “can” explosion: today’s distribution technology is capable of ensuring fast and fresh, and indeed there are many Reinventing the habit of cooking at home-takeaways are good, but not indispensable.
The “pit” of semi-finished products many years ago was at least theoretically “filled”.
Actually, from the data point of view, the average household consumption of semi-finished vegetables in China last year was about 5% of Japan ’s household consumption in 2004. Of course, in my opinion, this is probably because the category of “semi-finished dishes” is too broad, and it can really “out of the circle”, maybe only some of the categories in the semi-finished dishes.
For example, if the media launched a questionnaire survey on Weibo this month: “Will you order takeaway hot pot?” The survey results show that in the category of semi-finished hot pot, 1576 out of 5437 people chose “Yes! At home! “It doesn’t taste that good”, accounting for 29%, the other 15% and 23% of the people refused because of the trouble of washing the pot and too lazy to take out the food, respectively, and only 33% said “the same goes for buying vegetables.”
So in my opinion, in all semi-finished products, products that meet the following principles may have the most potential to survive after the epidemic, and precipitate for the daily needs of more “loving cooking” families.
1, can be standardized. Only standardization can meet the user’s requirements for the taste of semi-finished dishes. After all, when you order a semi-finished dish, you always want its finished effect to be as you want. For example, hot pot, such as snail soup powder, the standardization of taste mainly lies in sauces and ingredients, not the elements that cannot be standardized such as heat.
2. Consumers make difficult categories from scratch. Few people may order a semi-finished dish of fried bean sprouts, but the situation is different if it is replaced by pepper pork belly chicken pot-after all, for many kitchen little whites, it can be done in 10 minutes. Dishes satisfy both appetite and the circle of friends, and serve two purposes.
3, the production process is simple enough. Such as instant rice, self-heating hot pot and other semi-finished products.
Perhaps these conditions are met. With the mutual promotion of technological progress and the renewal of ideas, semi-finished dishes may really fly into the homes of ordinary people.
Author: Lee North Star, an independent writer, dozens of media columnist, formerly “Southern Weekly,” “China Times”, “Finance” and other media
But the question is, when the epidemic is over, can people’s enthusiasm for “cooking at home” keep the fire of semi-finished vegetables burning?
The answer is different, but one thing is certain. If the birth of a new species is just an accidental genetic mutation, then the rise of the “new species” requires two forces that are not incompatible: technological progress and renewal of ideas.
It is not difficult to find that compared to a few years ago, both at the technical and conceptual levels, semi-finished dishes have at least reached the stage of “can” explosion: today’s distribution technology is capable of ensuring fast and fresh, and indeed there are many Reinventing the habit of cooking at home-takeaways are good, but not indispensable.
The “pit” of semi-finished products many years ago was at least theoretically “filled”.
Actually, from the data point of view, the average household consumption of semi-finished vegetables in China last year was about 5% of Japan ’s household consumption in 2004. Of course, in my opinion, this is probably because the category of “semi-finished dishes” is too broad, and it can really “out of the circle”, maybe only some of the categories in the semi-finished dishes.
For example, if the media launched a questionnaire survey on Weibo this month: “Will you order takeaway hot pot?” The survey results show that in the category of semi-finished hot pot, 1576 out of 5437 people chose “Yes! At home! “It doesn’t taste that good”, accounting for 29%, the other 15% and 23% of the people refused because of the trouble of washing the pot and too lazy to take out the food, respectively, and only 33% said “the same goes for buying vegetables.”
So in my opinion, in all semi-finished products, products that meet the following principles may have the most potential to survive after the epidemic, and precipitate for the daily needs of more “loving cooking” families.
1, can be standardized. Only standardization can meet the user’s requirements for the taste of semi-finished dishes. After all, when you order a semi-finished dish, you always want its finished effect to be as you want. For example, hot pot, such as snail soup powder, the standardization of taste mainly lies in sauces and ingredients, not the elements that cannot be standardized such as heat.
2. Consumers make difficult categories from scratch. Few people may order a semi-finished dish of fried bean sprouts, but the situation is different if it is replaced by pepper pork belly chicken pot-after all, for many kitchen little whites, it can be done in 10 minutes. Dishes satisfy both appetite and the circle of friends, and serve two purposes.
3, the production process is simple enough. Such as instant rice, self-heating hot pot and other semi-finished products.
Perhaps these conditions are met. With the mutual promotion of technological progress and the renewal of ideas, semi-finished dishes may really fly into the homes of ordinary people.
Author: Lee North Star, an independent writer, dozens of media columnist, formerly “Southern Weekly,” “China Times”, “Finance” and other media