How long does it take for a king crab to get from being caught to the consumer's table?The answer is probably more than a week. After harvesting from the Barents Sea in the Arctic Ocean, the raw materials of Hema king crab are directly transported to the Qingdao wharf through the technology of salt brine and freezing, and then sent by the factory to the Hema store and then to the consumer's table after multiple processes such as de-icing and de-salting.
On November 30, the "King Crab Series" exclusively launched by Hema became a hot new product, and its sales have increased nearly three times since its launch in November. As we all know, king crab is no longer a "rare thing", but the ** of live crabs that cost thousands of yuan at every turn still makes many people "prohibitive". How to let consumers eat cheap and first-class king crab has become a problem for Hema to think about.
This year, I want to make something different, not only to cook simple, affordable, but also to restore the taste of king crab that has just been caught out of the sea. Hema purchasing Cai Yugui said.
Under the short chain cycle, it brings users the ultimate experience.
Recently, in the Qingdao factory of Pang Shi, which is cooperated with Freshippo, I saw the production and processing process of king crab. In order to allow consumers to eat safe and delicious king crab products, each process here is scientifically and rigorously calculated, and in order to ensure the taste, each process will be processed manually, which has the advantage of maintaining the taste of the meat to the greatest extent.
For many consumers, in addition to being expensive, king crab is also particularly difficult to handle, and after buying live crabs, how to deal with them has become a difficult problem for consumers. Cooked and frozen has become the method chosen by many catering companies. Of course, there are still many barriers in the entire king crab processing market. For example, if it is overcooked during the freezing process, it will cause the loss of the original flavor of the crab meat. If most king crabs come to the Chinese market, they will enter the retail channel through the first-class merchants and distributors at all levels, and the longer transportation process and time will lead to the shrinkage of the crab meat.
Most domestic enterprises use machine segmentation, which cannot be adjusted according to the size, specification and shape of each crab, resulting in foreign objects with fishy smell such as crab gills remaining on the crab, and consumers will have a large odor during the cooking process. Miao Yuanfeng, director of Qingdao New Crown Foreign Food Factory, said.
How to solve these problems is a problem to consider in making this king crab product.
Cai Yugui introduced that through the Hema direct mining chain, the best production area of king crab was selected, and the Barents Sea of the Arctic Ocean, where the 'big man' of more than 8 catties was cut at sea according to the commercial specifications of crab legs and crab pieces, and then heated to 8 mature seawater to freeze. It is directly sent to the Qingdao factory by transfer ship, and the whole link is shortened by 9%.
After arriving at the Qingdao factory, the excess sea ice is manually removed and then thawed naturally in 40% sugar water. Although this defrosting method is a time-consuming and "stupid" method, it can retain the sweetness and fullness of the crab meat to the greatest extent, and the sugar water will also replace the excess salt. Miao Yuanfeng said.
Workers then peel and cut each leg along the shape and size of it. "King crabs are wild, each leg is different, and only manual operation can ensure that the cutting is in place, so that the filling can better cover the crab meat," Cai Yugui said.
In the king crab series, there are mainly black truffle cheese, garlic and typhoon shelter flavors. It is reported that the black truffle cheese flavor, smeared with black truffle sauce on the crab leg meat, and then sprinkled with mozzarella cheese, garlic king crab leg garlic sauce in the garlic king crab leg, developed by a five-star chef, in the processing process to retain the garlic aroma, but also to remove the spicy taste of garlic. The typhoon shelter flavor crab pieces are the most complex, first drain the surface water, evenly coat a layer of wheat flour, pre-fry in oil at about 180°C for 40 seconds, fry until golden and set the shape, and then drain the oil.
After all the king crab New Year dishes are pre-processed, they are sent to the minus 40° freezer to complete the freezing, and they can be put on the table in the box area room within 24 hours at the earliest.
Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, said that it is very difficult to innovate in a relatively traditional industry such as frozen seafood, and Hema starts from consumer demand and works backwards from the whole process. From marine fishing, to transportation, as well as processing, seasoning, production, and other links, all aspects are implemented in accordance with the requirements of high quality, and many of these problems have not been encountered before in pure frozen king crab production.
The logic of consumption is changing, and Hema pursues a quality-price ratio.
When the consumption logic changes, what attracts consumers is no longer the cost performance, but the quality-price ratio. According to the official data disclosed by Freshippo, the king crab product series** ranges from 188-269 yuan. Compared with the initial stage of the market, the sales volume has increased by nearly 3 times, among which garlic king crab legs are the most popular among consumers. The fastest 7 minutes can restore the general taste of a big hotel.
And this ** is already cheap compared to live crabs. Among them, two types of king crab legs reached 810 grams, and the crab pieces in the typhoon shelter reached 500 grams. Cai Yugui said that this king crab product should be affordable under high quality, delicious and inexpensive. In addition, it should be convenient for consumers to cook.
Miao Yuanfeng said that seafood processing is a relatively traditional industry, and there has been little innovation and change in recent years. The cooperation with Hema is actually a process of pursuing the "quality-price ratio". To ensure higher quality, restore the best taste at the same time, give consumers the lowest **.
In this process, we also explored with Freshippo, broke many traditional operation modes, and innovated processes and processes. In the process of processing, many attempts were made, and the final conclusion was that in terms of quality and taste, the artificial effect was the best. The process of adding various fillings is also after many attempts. ”
Bao Yuezhong, a new retail expert, believes that it is very difficult to innovate in big seafood, and it is necessary to have a full grasp of the first chain and the consumer side. Hema is directly sourced from the source of the Barents Sea, and good products are matched with fine processing, from the store to the consumer's table, so that consumers can eat good things with lower **, and also conform to the changes in consumer trends - good quality, ** should also be good.
Jiang Han also believes that from the feedback of many consumers, the current consumption is not only about low prices, but more importantly, about the choice of "quality-price ratio". Taking the New Year dish of king crab as an example, 269's **, the fastest 7-minute meal, you can enjoy the taste of high-end hotels, and it is not surprising that it has become a popular commodity on the table of consumers in the context of various festivals at the end of the year. Through innovative thinking, a simple frozen king crab is turned into an "Internet celebrity New Year's dish", which represents the continuous innovation of Hema and Hema for commodities and the high-standard and digital management system of the entire first-chain system.