The years are gone, time is flowing, and 2023 has passed. Last year, many industries almost all had their own difficulties. Looking back at 2023, food people have experienced too many things, some are confused, and they are more determined;Some brands are moving forward steadily, while others are mired in ...... whirlpool of lossesAs an observer and recorder of the industry, Nashi pays close attention to the changes in the industry. Here, we have deliberately selected the top ten representative events in the food industry in 2023 to get a glimpse of the past and future trends of the industry. 
01 Zibo barbecue is popular all over the country.
At the end of last year, more than 10,000 local students were invited to eat a Zibo barbecue, and agreed to continue to come to Zibo next year when the spring flowers bloomed. At the beginning of this year, as scheduled, the college student special forces went all the way to Zibo to eat barbecue, but they didn't expect it to be on fire. At the same time, it has added a fire to the popularity of the entire barbecue category and beverages, and the food and beverage companies represented by Dayao, Huiyuan, Anjing, etc. have also caught the traffic and earned their voice.
Status:The once full Zibo barbecue restaurant, even during meal time, can only see sporadic diners. At the same time, many stores posted sublease information. The main reason for the transfer of most shops is that there is no business and the loss is too large. With the decrease in passenger flow, the surplus barbecue industry is returning to normalcyZibo has also returned from an Internet celebrity on the hot search to the identity of an ordinary prefecture-level city.
02 Prefabricated dishes were written into the first document.
In mid-February, the "Opinions of the Communist Party of China on Comprehensively Promoting the Key Work of Rural Revitalization in 2023" was released, which made it clear that the in-depth implementation of the "digital business to rejuvenate agriculture" and "Internet +" agricultural products out of the village and into the city project, encourage the development of agricultural products e-commerce direct procurement, customized production and other models, and build a live broadcast e-commerce base for agricultural and sideline products. Improve the level of standardization and standardization of clean vegetables, first-class kitchens and other industries. Cultivate and develop the prefabricated food industry. A small plate of prefabricated dishes, the upstream is connected to agricultural development and rural revitalization, and the downstream is connected to the transformation of the catering industry and consumption reform, driving the integrated development of primary, secondary and tertiary industries, which is considered to be an effective starting point for promoting consumption and transformation.
Status:This year, pre-made dishes have been complained by consumers, not because they are unpalatable and unsafe. Instead, I thought I was spending money to buy freshly fried, but in fact it was a pre-made dish, and I always felt that I had been deceived. Some consumers said, "I accept pre-made dishes, but I can't accept that all dishes are pre-made." At the same time, it is also in the whirlpool, and the controversy of "prefabricated dishes entering the campus" and "prefabricated dishes occupying shopping malls" continues to ......The entrants are even more struggling, the restaurant boss is trying to survive, and the prefabricated food company is faltering.
03 Mass selling snacks triggered the second spring of the channel.
In 2022, mass-selling snack stores represented by snacks are busy and Zhao Yiming snacks are becoming dark horses that cannot be ignored in the retail format. At the same time, it has caused enterprises represented by food companies such as Panpan, Qiaqia, and Weilong to increase the mass sales of snacks, and the attention of enterprises, capital, channels, and retail, all the way forward, and they are rapidly staking their ground. Towards the end of the year, after the announcement of the strategic merger of the head brand "Snacks are Busy" and "Zhao Yiming Snacks" in the mass merchandising snack store track, they attracted Miss You and Yanjin Shop to accumulate 10The strategic investment of 500 million yuan has attracted widespread attention and discussion.
Status:After a year of rapid growth, snack stores may have gone through a period of exponential growth, and existing brands may face more fierce competition in the short term, putting forward higher requirements for store operations, but snack manufacturers may benefit more. While the leading brands are expanding to 10,000 stores, the digital management model is facing challenges. Only by using digital tools to take into account all aspects of production and sales, such as procurement, warehousing, logistics, and sales, can we truly reduce costs and increase efficiency.
04 Aspartame carcinogenic turmoil.
On July 14, the official website of the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that aspartame, the most commonly used artificial sweetener in the food industry, "may be carcinogenic to humans". Aspartame is classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans (IARC Group 2B). One stone has stirred up a thousand waves and caused concern among many consumers, especially lovers of sugar-free drinks. Is aspartame carcinogenic?In an interview with a reporter from China Economic Net, some experts said that according to the current regulatory requirements, aspartame can be used in food processing within a reasonable range, and consumers do not need to panic excessively, but at the same time, do not rely too much on sweetener drinks.
Status:As aspartame continues to be scrutinized by the market, the public has a clearer understanding that there is no 100% safe food in the world, and no matter how much you ingest, no matter how much you ingest, no matter how harmful it is, whether it comes from natural or synthetic sources. Today's consumers pay more attention to the health of their diet, from drinks to food, sugar-reduced and sugar-free foods have become the first choice.
05 Sugar-free tea exploded, and the oriental leaves turned red.
With the wave of healthy eating and the rise of the concept of "sugar-free", sugar-free tea has ushered in its highlight moment. Once known as the most unpleasant drink, Oriental Leaves is a topic on social platforms this year, as well as sales, is ushering in a new peak in consumers' evaluation of its quality, with Nielsen data estimating that Oriental Leaves is expected to reach 10 billion in terms of retail sales in 2023.
Status:With the further maturity of the market and the continuation of consumption upgrading, the future sugar-free tea market will accelerate its development and sink, and is expected to exceed 10 billion yuan in 2025. The broad prospect of sugar-free tea has attracted many "players" to enter the game across the track, wanting to get a piece of the pie, and there will be more entrants in the future.
06 30 years of nuclear pollution discharge, food companies to expand new opportunities.
On August 24, ignoring the strong doubts and opposition of the international community, Japan** unilaterally forcibly started the discharge of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear accident into the sea. This move has aroused widespread concern from the international community, and discussions on human health, international obligations, ecological environment, and aquatic product safety have been deepened. On the same day, the General Administration of Customs of China decided to suspend the import of aquatic products (including edible aquatic animals) from Japan from that day (August 24). "Can you still eat seafood?"There are concerns about the discharge of nuclear wastewater, and its damage and impact are irreversible and long-lasting.
Status:In this context, artificial seafood and radiation-resistant products have emerged. At the same time, the market supervision department issued a new version of the health care function catalogue to concretize the anti-radiation function. But the real solution is to avoid eating food contaminated with radiation.
07 Sauce coffee was robbed.
On September 4, Kweichow Moutai and Luckin Coffee launched the co-branded coffee "Moutai Luckin Sauce Latte" officially on the shelves. Related topics Luckin responded to whether drinking Moutai co-branded coffee can drive a sauce latte quickly dominated the hot search on Weibo. According to the data, the sales of "sauce latte" exceeded 100 million yuan on the first day.
Status:At present, the sauce latte is still sold as a regular product. But compared with the explosion when it was first launched in September, the "novice trial period" of sauce latte seems to have passed. The sauce-flavored latte product, which once ranked first in the small yellow car, is now hard to find in the sales list. Not only that, in the Luckin Coffee Card Coupon***, compared with the daily sales of 5.42 million cups, only about 70,000 Sauce Latte e-coupons have been sold in the three months since they were launched.
08 Hema Sam's business war continues to escalate.
As a representative of the warehouse supermarket, the competition for the status of Hema Sam has made the smell of gunpowder between the two sides more and more intense. Hema offline stores appeared on the "moving mountain price" billboard promoting low prices. Because most of the Hema Yishan price products have a high degree of similarity with Sam's star products, and ** is lower, "Yishan" is ridiculed as the "mountain" of "Sam". Subsequently, Sam made a ** downward adjustment on the corresponding product. The two sides began to enter the tug-of-war of "you come and go", in which durian mille-feuille, which has undergone multiple rounds of price reductions, has become a key indicator for netizens to judge which of the two sides is "lower". From Hema moving mountains and prices, shielding IP to moving mountains and fighting cattle, and in 2024, the first-class war will continue, and beef will become the key category for price reductions at the beginning of the year. The war between the two sides ushered in another stage of comprehensive escalation. Beef is Sam's core popular product, and Hema has attacked Sam's core hinterland and knocked down the top of the beef category, and Hema has proved its own chain ability.
Status:Sam and Hema started a battle, the most favorite and most enjoyable is the consumer, the more fierce the battle, the more consumers enjoy the benefits. The first-class war above the cost is a good thing, which not only allows consumers to enjoy low-cost goods, but also forces enterprises to improve the efficiency of operation and operation, and enhance their competitive advantage in the cruel business world. Judging from the current situation, the ** war will continue until 2024. At present, the membership-based warehouse supermarket can be called a phenomenal format, which has brought together Sam's, Costco, Freshippo, RT-Mart and other membership-based warehouse supermarkets, and more traditional supermarkets will transform to this in the future.
09 Tsingtao beer raw material urine incident.
On October 19, a worker suspected of climbing into the raw material warehouse to urinate quickly spread on the Internet, pushing Tsingtao Beer, a nationally renowned beer brand, into the whirlpool. Later, after an investigation by the public security organs, during the unloading process, Cui Moumou and Cai Moumou had a quarrel over the issue of moving the car. At 13:04, a small amount of malt remained in the compartment, which needed to be manually cleaned up, and Cui Moumou urinated in the compartment when he climbed into the truck. Cai Moumou discovered Cui Moumou's behavior through the rear camera of the dash cam, and uploaded it to his personal Douyin account after retaking ** with his mobile phone. After investigation by the public security organs, Cui Moumou had the illegal act of intentionally damaging property. On October 22, the Pingdu Municipal Public Security Bureau placed him under administrative detention in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Public Security Administration Punishments. On November 1, Tsingtao Brewery issued a rectification statement and apologized.
Status:For consumers, no one dares to drink Tsingtao beer openly now, because it is easy to be used as a laughing stock. And the "urine shadow" of Tsingtao Beer will definitely accompany the brand for a long time. Tsingtao Brewery's share price was affected by this event, with a significant decline of 156%, and the market value once decreased by nearly 10 billion.
10 BESTORE has reduced prices on a large scale in 17 years.
On November 27, BESTORE announced that the first meeting of the company's third board of directors decided to elect Yang Yinfen as the chairman of the third board of directors. On November 29, Yang Yinfen issued an internal open letter to all employees, announcing that the average membership price of more than 300 products sold in BESTORE stores has been reduced by 22% on average, and the highest price has been reduced by 45%, mainly focusing on snacks with cost optimization but not affecting quality and high repurchase rate. The price reduction focuses on offline stores, including macadamia nuts, pine nuts, pistachios, cashew nuts and other nuts, pork jerky, duck neck, grilled sausages and other meat snacks, as well as spicy strips, dried tofu, bread cakes, melon seeds and other categories with high repurchase rates, all of which are the main force of price reduction. Taking the nut category as an example, the price of nut products such as macadamia nuts, pine nuts, and almonds has been reduced by up to 40%. The membership price of products such as fragrant iron eggs and mountain squid is also 20%-30% lower than the original price.
Status:Focusing on the "cost-effective" strategy has become a key word for consumer brands. In addition to BESTORE, Three Squirrels also proposed and practiced the "high-end cost-effective" strategy as early as a year ago, and launched a more affordable snack community store. In response to BESTORE's large-scale price cut, Baicaowei said, "Approaching the year-end promotion and New Year's Festival, Baicaowei will vigorously benefit consumers."
Looking back at the food industry in 2023, there have been several ups and downs, but in the final analysis, we must start from the perspective of consumers, start from the health needs, and do not rush it, otherwise it will explode quickly, and the flames will be turned off quickly.