Jingguantai (ID: jingguantaicn) original.
Text |Xie Yuanyuan.
EdLiu Di.
Plum cabbage button meat, beer duck, kung pao chicken, vermicelli scallops, only diners can't think of it, and no pre-made dishes can't do it. After the popularity of pre-made dishes, I wanted to eat at a restaurant"Pot gas"The rice has almost become a luxury, and the dishes that look hot may all be just heated food.
I once ate Kung Pao Chicken at a stir-fry restaurant where the average family was 60 yuan per family and 30 yuan per family, and I guess they all used the same cooking package. Xiao Min, who loves food, bluntly said that he encountered a "pre-made food assassin".
There are many consumers like Xiaomin. According to a survey by the Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Protection Commission, 628% of consumers have encountered the use of pre-made dishes in restaurants and restaurants when dining out. It is true that pre-made dishes have made a market for all kinds of restaurants.
According to the "2022 Annual Report on China's Catering Industry" released by the China Hotel Association, more than 85% of China's prefabricated food sales channels are currently concentrated in the B-end. Snack fast food restaurants, chain restaurants, restaurants focusing on takeout, group meals, etc. are the main scenarios for the application of prefabricated dishes.
The reason why prefabricated dishes can capture the heart of the catering industry is closely related to its ability to reduce costs and increase efficiency. The cost composition of a restaurant mainly includes raw materials, rent, and manpower. Pre-made dishes not only reduce the cost of ingredients, but also standardize the dishes, reduce the cost of hiring a chef and reduce the area of the back kitchen.
Restaurants see pre-made dishes as a way to make a profit, but the stomachs of this generation of young people are not easy to tame.
In order to "escape" from pre-made dishes, this generation of young people has begun to learn Xi and share experiences in social **, and Xiao Min, who calls himself a "foodie", will do his homework before making an appointment with friends. "Lightning protection!These restaurants in Beijing are all pre-made dishes!"A few tricks to teach you to identify whether a restaurant uses pre-made dishes" is what she often reads.
I couldn't accept that I would pay several times the price for pre-made dishes in a restaurant, and more importantly, I couldn't taste the chef's craftsmanship and the dining experience was completely lost. "Xiao Min is not alone, the results of the investigation of the Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Protection Committee show that 532% of consumers oppose the use of pre-made dishes in hotels and restaurants, saying that they want to eat fresh dishes when they go to restaurants.
With consumers increasingly reluctant to pay for it, pre-made dishes seem to struggle to support the catering industry.
Coming ferociously
Search for the keyword "pre-made dishes" in 1688**, and there are as many as 50 pages of related products, including various dishes such as "rice bowl meal pack" and "Chinese frozen food pack", which are very complete. These stir-fried dishes marked with cooking packages are cheap, whether they are meat dishes or vegetarian dishes, almost all of them are within 6 yuan, and some products directly indicate on the page "Focus on hotel food wholesale".
Figure 1688: Selling pre-made dishes.
* 188 screenshots.
These dishes not only flow to small restaurants that consumers usually eat, but many beautifully decorated and stylish-looking chain restaurants are also heavy users of pre-made dishes.
The use of pre-made dishes in restaurant chains is already an open secret in the industry. In the main procurement list of Chinese fast food hometown chicken, there is a prefabricated lion's head, and almost all of the main raw material suppliers listed in its prospectus also have pre-packaged food sales qualifications. In addition to hometown chicken, head chain restaurants such as Zhen Kung Fu and Yoshinoya are all big customers of prefabricated food manufacturers.
According to the 2021 China Chain Catering Industry Report, the proportion of prefabricated meals in Shin Kung Fu and Yoshinoya has reached 100%, and the proportion of prefabricated meals in Xibei and Xiaonanguo is more than 85%.
"Once, I saw the waiter take out a cooking bag from the freezer and heat it up for me. Since then, as long as I'm not in a hurry, I've tried to avoid this kind of fast-serving chain, but I can't help it in a hurry. ”
Other types of restaurants are not unavoidable, and Meizi, who runs a freshly fried restaurant, bluntly said, "When it comes to fast food, the use of cooking kits is more common, especially in restaurants that specialize in takeout." The possibility of a restaurant kit that is mainly used for dine-in is a little lower, but there is no guarantee that there will be no at all. ”
Behind the "invasion" of pre-made dishes into restaurants is the combined result of a fast-paced lifestyle and a desire to reduce costs in restaurants.
Linlin, who has worked in the catering industry for many years, expressed her helplessness, "Freshly made is very time-consuming, even if the process is optimized to the extreme, when it is busy, it takes 30-40 minutes to start a table of dishes for four people, whether it is a guest who has already entered the store or is queuing, is not willing to wait." It will be much more efficient to use a cooking pack, and it will only take 5 minutes to heat up a dish. Although five-star hotels don't need cooking bags, if you want to prepare a banquet, you have to prepare some dishes in advance, such as soup, etc., otherwise so many tables will not be busy. ”
Umeko's restaurant is often criticized by customers for its slow serving speed. "We all eat freshly made, and the chef has come up with a longer menu. Because we don't know which dish the guests will order, we don't dare to cut and wash the vegetables in advance, especially when the customer flow is low, we are afraid that the prepared dishes will not be ordered and will rot in the end. Freshly cut and cooked caused us to serve the food very slowly, and the guests were often impatient, and it was useless to explain it. ”
In addition to improving efficiency, the main driving force for the introduction of pre-made dishes in the catering industry is the need to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and some rigid regulations in shopping malls have also played a role in facilitating. In this regard, Umeko is deeply touched.
Although it has been complained by customers, for safety and health reasons, the plum has always insisted on being freshly fried. However, as a long-term loss-making practitioner, Meizi said that she can understand the practices of her peers, "The rent and labor costs of restaurants are very high, and it is difficult to make a profit if you don't use this kind of pre-made dishes (cooking kits) to increase gross profits." ”
According to the China Hotel Association's estimation of sample catering enterprises, catering enterprises using prefabricated dishes can effectively save labor costs, compress meal time, and increase profit margins by 7%.
A "big killer" to increase profits
"The customer's expenses in the restaurant include not only the cost of ingredients, but also the cost of rent and labor. If we only charge for the dishes, then we won't be able to do it." And these three expenses are the main costs of the catering industry.
According to the "2022 China Catering Industry Annual Report" of the China Hotel Association, the raw material cost of a catering enterprise accounts for about 40%, the labor cost is about 20%, and the rent cost is about 10%, which accounts for more than 70% together. And the cost of raw materials and labor is growing.
According to the latest "2023 Annual Report on China's Catering Industry", the average ratio of labor costs to revenue of the surveyed enterprises is 256%, an increase of about 4 percentage points over the same period last year. The average ratio of raw material purchase cost to operating income of the surveyed enterprises was 46%, an increase of about 5 percentage points over the same period last year.
The use of pre-made dishes is the most effective way to reduce the cost of raw materials.
As far as I know, the meat and vegetable dishes used in these small restaurants generally do not exceed 10 yuan, and the basic yuan can be done, and then sold for dozens of yuan in the market. In this way, the gross profit margin can be achieved to 50%, and the profit of extruded raw materials can be used to cover labor costs and rental costs. This is only relative to the stir-fry restaurant, if it is a restaurant with a low turnover rate such as hot pot and barbecue, it is necessary to increase the gross profit margin to more than 70%, so that it is possible to make a profit," said Meizi.
According to the 2022 Annual Report on China's Catering Industry, after the use of pre-made dishes, the time and cost of serving dishes consumed are lower than those of freshly fried food.
Figure: Businesses use pre-made dishes to save on raw material costs and meal delivery time.
* 2022 Annual Report on China's Catering Industry
In addition, saving on raw material costs with pre-made dishes can also ease the pressure on the restaurant's manpower and store rental costs.
According to Meizi, in Shanghai, except for a few restaurants such as KFC, McDonald's, and Pizza Hut, other restaurants will provide employees with the benefits of food and accommodation. In addition to room and board, the wages paid by the restaurant to the waiters are also quite substantial.
Working in an ordinary restaurant, the monthly salary is about 5,500 yuan to 6,500 yuan, and the salary of a high-end restaurant is 7,000 yuan or 8,000 yuan, and the store manager can reach 10,000 yuan. ”
In addition to waiters, freshly fried restaurants also need to hire chefs with good skills, "The salary of a good chef in Shanghai is about 1-2."50,000 yuan". In order to reduce this part of the expenditure, many enterprises have begun to adopt flexible employment methods such as recruitment and part-time employment in the past two years.
Former caterer Arnold also bluntly said that only stir-fry restaurants, hot pot restaurants and barbecue restaurants have higher raw material costs, especially high-end stir-fry restaurants. The cost of raw materials for noodle restaurants and wonton shops accounts for only a small part, and labor and rent are the main expenses. The main reason for the introduction of pre-made dishes in these stores is to reduce the number of employees and the size of the restaurant's back kitchen.
In addition to this, the cooking kit can also allow the restaurant to standardize the menu**. This means that the restaurant does not need to hire a highly skilled chef, or even a chef to serve the food normally, avoiding the risk of losing customers due to changing chefs. This is also a big reason why restaurant chains rely on cooking kits.
Some of the mall's explicit regulations have also contributed to the introduction of pre-made dishes in restaurants.
The Fire Safety Management Rules for Large Commercial Complexes (Trial) promulgated in 2019 stipulate that food and beverage establishments set up underground with a construction area of more than 150 square meters or more than 75 seats are not allowed to use gas. F&B outlets on other floors are also subject to restrictions, including the prohibition of using open flames to process food in the dining areas of F&B establishments, and the use of electric heating facilities in open food processing areas.
Under the combination of internal and external factors, countless restaurants have embraced pre-made dishes, which has had a great impact on those restaurants that insist on freshly fried. Due to the inability to improve the speed of food delivery, and the dare not increase the price, many loss-making freshly fried restaurants have to withdraw from the market, and Arnold's restaurant is one of them.
The counterattack of "freshly made stir-fry".
In an environment where cooking buns are popular, Arnold, who has stayed true to his original intention, has been cleared out of the market, and his small shop specializing in freshly fried food has been persisting in first-tier cities for more than two years, but it closed down in October this year.
Recalling this entrepreneurial experience, Arnold bluntly said that it is important to follow the rules of the market, and it is difficult for freshly fried restaurants to stick to it in the case of consumption downgrading and the pace of life getting faster and faster.
The cost of raw materials and labor in a restaurant like ours is very high, and if you want to make money, you can only increase the price of food. But in today's environment, guests are very sensitive to **. Our mutton pot priced at 78 yuan was said to be too expensive by customers, and the dry fried beef river at 28 yuan was also said to be expensive, not to mention the price increase. But in fact, after deducting all kinds of costs, such a ** is already a loss-making transaction. ”
Freshly fried restaurants are struggling to lose money, while restaurants that use pre-made dishes are moving towards profitability, "Although they use cooking kits, the pricing is similar to that of restaurants like ours." Serving a table of guests in the same way, they not only save labor costs, but also save the cost of raw materials, and the profit will naturally be much higher. ”
In Arnold's view, the catering industry is currently seriously involuted, and even if it barely survives, it will face fierce competition. Engaging in Meituan full reduction and sending snacks, many restaurants are fighting a first-class battle in order to attract customers, and Arnold has also participated in it.
We have also done 60 yuan to 100 yuan activities before, but these are just drinking to quench our thirst, and the preferential activities cannot bring sticky customers to the store. When I closed the store, some customers privately said that it was best to close down for half a year, so that new stores would continue to come out, and they could keep collecting wool, and maybe only those cooking package restaurants could survive better," Arnold sighed.
High gross margins have driven some restaurant brands to take matters into their own hands. Quanjude's Sichuan Hotel has launched the prefabricated food brand "Sichuan Boss", and other brands of the company are also making efforts to lay out the foodization business of catering products such as prefabricated dishes, and build their own production lines. Xibei, Uncle De's abalone, and Linjia Hokkien cuisine have also become one of them, and the promotion channels of Xibei's prefabricated dishes even cover their own offline stores.
F&B brands are becoming more and more enthusiastic about pre-made dishes, but the public's acceptance of pre-made dishes seems to be decreasing, especially at the level of in-store consumption.
In the past two years, consumers have become more and more reluctant to use pre-made dishes in restaurants, especially after the controversy over pre-made dishes on campus, the public's resistance has become stronger. Remarks such as "refusing to eat feed" and "can prefabricated dishes be rolled out of China" are frequently swiped on the Internet.
Previously, the Yuan Ji Yun Dumpling catering brand, which focuses on fresh and ready-made products, was "besieged" by a large number of diners after it was revealed that it used frozen meat filling.
Picture: Netizens boycott pre-made dishes.
* Weibo (left), Xiaohongshu (right).
Regulation of the use of pre-made dishes in restaurants is also being strengthened. In the "Analysis of Complaints Accepted by the National Consumer Association in the First Half of 2022", the China Consumers Association specifically named the problems of poor labeling of pre-made dishes, failure to inform the use of pre-made dishes in take-out and dine-in, and damage to consumers' right to know and choice.
In order to win back consumers, a number of "anti-pre-made-made-food" businesses have emerged in the catering market, and these merchants have posted notices or put up signs in front of their stores, declaring that they refuse to use pre-made dishes. This means that stir-frying is becoming a new way for restaurants to build their competitiveness.
Although prefabricated food restaurants have had an impact on the industry, high-end restaurants that focus on fresh ingredients and chefs have always had a fixed customer base and a good market. In addition to selling dishes, the former also sells thoughtful and considerate service and superior dining environmentThe latter mainly sells "one-of-a-kind" flavors and gastronomic culture.
Linlin, who has worked in high-end hotels for many years, said, "At least in the five-star hotels I have worked in, I have never seen the use of cooking bags. Unless it is fried food, such as fried dough sticks or squid rings, semi-finished products will be made in advance, and the rest are freshly made, and vegetables and fruits are also freshly cut and blanched, so five-star hotels will be slower to serve. ”
The emergence of pre-made dishes has solved the problem of long waiting times for meals to a certain extent, especially the emergence of cooking kits. But it is precisely because of the accelerated pace of life that contemporary young people hope to be able to eat a small stir-fry with "pot gas" to soothe themselves when they are tired. Moreover, in the case of young people paying more and more attention to physical health, the cooking package with heavy oil and salt is not in line with the public's life philosophy.
In the future, pre-made dishes may not be able to become a part of people's lives, but they cannot become all, and if you want to conquer the stomach of young people, you still can't do without freshly made stir-fry.
Reference: Prefabricated Dishes Stir Up the Catering Industry", *Half Moon Talk.
Pre-made dishes, fully occupy Chinese shopping malls", * Inspur Studio.
Title image** in Visual China.
Linlin, Arnold, Meizi, and Xiaomin are pseudonyms in the article.
Disclaimer: Under no circumstances does the information or opinions expressed in this article constitute investment advice to any person.