Pre-made dishes were once again on the hot search on February 6 because they should be served on the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner table. In the past year, the public's controversy over the polarization of prefabricated dishes has not been interrupted, and the previous online strategy for identifying prefabricated dishes has also been pointed out by many netizens as unreliable. A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily randomly interviewed 100 consumers and found that most of them still have a neutral or even supportive attitude towards pre-made dishes. Industry insiders believe that the reason why prefabricated dishes are not accepted by some people is mainly due to the lack of standards in the industry, resulting in uneven product quality. In this regard, a reporter from Beiqing Daily learned that the draft of the national standard for prefabricated dishes has been released, and the results will be available within half a year at the earliest. 
The online identification method is not reliable
A few days ago, an advertisement for prefabricated Chinese New Year's Eve dishes on an e-commerce platform caused controversy. In the advertisement, a lady shows her own table of meals to her family members on the ** call, and the advertising copy is "This is a (pre-made) (year) (dish)", in another version of the advertisement, there is also a shot of half of the table being put together, and the advertisement quickly caused controversy as soon as it was launched, some people think that the advertisement is too "yin and yang", and it also reveals a "weird atmosphere", and some netizens complained that "I don't reject prefabricated dishes, but this advertisement is a person for the New Year, and I want to eat prefabricated dishes, which is too social animal." ”
Therefore, in the past year, the pre-made dishes that have been hotly searched have been on the hot search again because of the Chinese New Year's Eve meal.
In fact, the controversy over pre-made dishes has not been interrupted, and some netizens even summarized the strategies on how to distinguish whether a restaurant or takeaway is a pre-made dish, such as "whether the restaurant has an open flame cooking area", "whether the food is served quickly", "can you choose the spiciness", "can you remove some side dishes" and so on. However, many netizens have reported that this kind of identification method is actually not reliable, and now some pre-made dishes are packaged separately, and the spiciness, side dishes, etc. can be "freely combined".
Are netizens really "one-sided" disgusted with pre-made dishes? For prefabricated dishes, a reporter from Beiqing Daily randomly interviewed 100 consumers. Among them, 27 people said they did not support it and would not eat pre-made dishes; Fifty-one people said they were neutral and could eat it as long as the ingredients were clean, and 22 people said they were in favor of pre-made dishes.
Respondents who did not support it believed that freshly fried meals were more delicious, and that pre-made dishes were not nutritious, and that some pre-made dishes were "technology and hard work". Respondents with a neutral attitude said that pre-made dishes are convenient to save time, and more importantly, some people who are not very good at cooking can also make "big dishes", enriching the variety of tables, but some of them also think that it is unacceptable for restaurants to "pretend" to be freshly made. In addition to agreeing with the convenience of prefabricated dishes, the supporting consumers also believe that as long as they buy regular brands of prefabricated dishes, enterprises can control food safety from the source, which is more hygienic than some small catering businesses.
Pre-made Chinese New Year's Eve meals are both "in demand" online and offline
A reporter from Beiqing Daily noticed that although netizens showed complaints about prefabricated dishes, in the sales under the first line, prefabricated dishes have become explosive products before the Spring Festival in various channels.
According to the "2023 China New Year Gift Box Consumer Behavior Insight Report", pre-made dishes have become one of the top ten types of Chinese consumers' New Year gift boxes for the first time, surpassing seafood and cosmetics and skin care products, with 2691% of the surveyed users chose to buy pre-made dishes as New Year's goods. Statistics show that in the 2023 Spring Festival sales season, the sales of prefabricated dishes nationwide will be about 13075.3 billion yuan, an increase of about 436%。
We've been out of stock for two weeks and this has just been refilled. "At Sam's Club, the flow of customers buying Chinese New Year goods has reached its peak, and a pre-made dish with braised soft-shelled turtle has become the main recommended product. Not only this one, but in the frozen area, boxes of Manchu and Han full seats, sheep scorpions, king crabs, Buddha jumping over the wall and other Chinese New Year's Eve "big dishes" are in short supply.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily then visited other large offline supermarkets and found that some dishes that are more cumbersome to cook, such as poon choi, Buddha jumping over the wall, pork belly chicken, eight treasure rice and other prefabricated dishes are all sought-after goods.
In the stores of some well-known brand catering businesses, the most eye-catching place placed in the door must be the semi-finished gift boxes of each family's Chinese New Year's Eve. "If you are not satisfied with the time slot, you can also consider our Chinese New Year's Eve Lunch Gift Box. When he noticed that the customers who came to book the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner showed obvious hesitation when they heard that they could book the time, the waiter at a time-honored restaurant in Beijing immediately recommended the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner gift box. "This set is all ready, a total of four cold and eight hot and a dessert, there are processing instructions inside, even if you make it alone, it can be served in more than half an hour. According to the staff, the gift box is selling very well and is about to run out of stock.
Not only offline, but as early as the first stage of New Year's goods on major platforms, all kinds of pre-made food gift boxes have become the highlight of online food categories. In **, there are not a few pre-made dish gift boxes that sell more than 10,000 pieces, and the sales of a Buddha jumping over the wall pre-made dish gift box even exceed 100,000 pieces.
According to data from Douyin e-commerce, in the pre-made Chinese New Year's Eve lunch gift box, the sales volume of Guangzhou restaurant in January was **159% month-on-month, Heyuan restaurant was **219% month-on-month, and Xinya chef was **2746 month-on-month84%。
However, this is not the highest peak, Dingdong Grocery told a reporter from Beiqing Daily that combined with the situation in previous years, the week before the Spring Festival, the overall sales of prefabricated dishes will usher in a peak period, and the platform is expected to have a 40% month-on-month growth.
The national standard for prefabricated dishes is about to be introduced
The controversy over the polarization of prefabricated dishes has always existed, and it is undeniable that the current prefabricated food track has formed a scale. Relevant data show that the scale of China's prefabricated vegetable market in 2022 will be 419.6 billion yuan, and it is expected to reach 510 billion yuan in 2023, and it will rise to the trillion yuan level in 2026. Up to now, China's prefabricated food-related enterprises have reached 6More than 40,000, 468% of pre-prepared food-related businesses are established within 1 to 5 years.
Industry insiders believe that the reason why prefabricated dishes are not accepted by some people is mainly due to the lack of standards in the industry, which has led to some businesses taking advantage of loopholes and having the opportunity to be shoddy. Another reason is that domestic consumers do not have a high favorability of cold-chain foods, and believe that fresh or cold and fresh means can better ensure the nutrition of ingredients.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily learned that the draft of the national standard for prefabricated dishes has been released, and the results will be available within half a year at the earliest. The biggest highlight of the national standard for prefabricated dishes is that it is forbidden to add preservatives, and at the same time, it must be transported in the cold chain.
Another significant change in the draft of the national standard for prefabricated dishes is that the scope of prefabricated dishes has been narrowed. Previously, the industry divided prefabricated dishes into four categories: ready-to-eat (such as eight-treasure porridge and ready-to-eat canned food); Instant heating (such as quick-frozen glutinous rice balls, self-heating hot pot); Ready-to-cook (semi-finished dishes that need to be heated); Ready-to-serve (e.g. unwashed and uncut vegetables). In the latest definition of the national standard, ready-to-eat pre-made dishes may have to be taken out.
Some industry insiders said that the "rejection of preservatives and high requirements for cold chain" in the national standard for prefabricated dishes also highlights the attitude of the national standard to a certain extent - prefabricated dishes are high-quality products and are the upgrading of the industry. The high requirements for the cold chain are a test of an enterprise's factories, logistics, terminals and other fields, which require a lot of investment. This may also eliminate some small and medium-sized prefabricated food enterprises. In addition, it is particularly important to strengthen the supervision of the whole process of prefabricated dishes. The release of the national standard for prefabricated dishes means that the prefabricated food industry will "have a law to follow", and how to supervise the market is also the focus of the development of the prefabricated food industry.
Text: Beijing Youth Daily reporter Zhang Xin, intern Zhang Zhixun.
Edited by Field.
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