With the joint efforts of all sectors of society and the recent full resumption of work in Shanghai, which was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have started to eat out again. Recalling the life during the lockdown period, food became a top priority for many people every day. With its convenience, safety, and hygiene, prefabricated foods, represented by ready-made dishes, accelerated their entry into the lives of Shanghai residents during the pandemic. The emergence and rapid promotion of prefabricated dishes effectively met the public's demand for homemade healthy food while ensuring food safety, making cooking no longer a hassle and significantly improving the quality of life.
The first to enter the prefabricated dish market were upstream and downstream enterprises in the catering industry, mainly catering to the B-side market demand. With the trend of chain catering and the continuous development of the cold chain transportation industry, under the correct guidance of relevant industry policies, we believe that leading prefabricated dish companies will accelerate efforts towards the C-side market, continuously strengthen the construction of food safety systems, improve cold chain transportation and storage technology, and create first-class brands.
Prefabricated dishes are increasingly favored by C-side consumers due to their convenience, safety, cost-effectiveness, and other characteristics.
Prefabricated dishes refer to finished or semi-finished products made from agricultural, livestock, poultry, and aquatic products as raw materials, mixed with various auxiliary ingredients, and managed for nutritional balance. After simple cooking or heating, they can be consumed as regular meals.According to the method of consumption or reprocessing, they can be divided into ready-to-eat foods, ready-to-heat foods, ready-to-cook foods, and ready-to-mix foods.
The upstream of the prefabricated dish industry chain mainly consists of raw material suppliers such as meat products and grain products, the middle layer mainly includes prefabricated dish producers and transportation companies, and the downstream mainly includes online and offline consumer channels and different types of consumers.
Depending on different needs, there are significant differences in sales channels for different types of prefabricated dishes. Ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat foods are mainly sold to the C-side market, while ready-to-cook and ready-to-mix foods are mainly sold to the B-side market.
Affected by the pandemic, more and more people have chosen to 'eat at home' in recent years, mainly in three forms: buying groceries and cooking, ordering takeout, and purchasing prefabricated dishes to cook at home. In this scenario, C-side consumers mainly focus on time consumption, food quality and safety, cost-effectiveness, and convenience.Compared to buying groceries and cooking and ordering takeout, prefabricated dishes, with their convenience, safety, cost-effectiveness, and other characteristics, are expected to fully solve consumers' pain points of 'eating at home' and increase the frequency of 'eating at home', thus becoming increasingly favored by C-side consumers.
The state continues to create a policy environment conducive to the development of the prefabricated dish industry
Food is the paramount necessity of the people, and the state pays great attention to the food processing industry, introducing a series of policies to create a favorable development environment.The relevant policies mainly revolve around the following four points: first, making standardized suggestions for industry approval work; second, standardizing food safety to ensure nutritional structure; third, strengthening support for technological development, accelerating the digitization process of logistics, and forming a traceable cold chain logistics network; fourth, supporting the development of green food processing.A series of policies have pointed out the direction for the overall development of the food processing industry in the future, which helps the sustainable and healthy development of the prefabricated dish industry.
The trend of chain catering development and the expansion of cold chain scale are important driving forces for the development of the prefabricated dish industry
Overall, in recent years, the scale of China's catering industry has shown an upward trend, reaching about 5 trillion yuan in 2021.Under the continuous development of the industry and the increasingly fierce competition within the industry, the chain rate of Chinese catering enterprises has gradually increased, rising from about 9% in 2017 to about 12% in 2021. Chain catering has a high demand for cost reduction, improving meal efficiency, and providing unified dishes, which has strongly promoted the rapid development of prefabricated dishes. Secondly, the continuous optimization of cold chain logistics technology and the continuous expansion of cold chain transportation scale have effectively reduced the logistics costs of prefabricated dish enterprises, helping related products quickly reach C-side consumers who value health, convenience, and cost-effectiveness, and expanding the business reach.
The prefabricated dish industry may see a financing boom, and the downstream market will accelerate its shift towards the C-side
The competitive landscape of the prefabricated dish industry is relatively fragmented, with most enterprises in the industry still at a small-scale development stage, and most focusing on a single variety track with limited business reach. With continuous breakthroughs in domestic cold chain technology and other industry positive news, many mid-tier enterprises within the industry have begun to accelerate their sprint towards the top, driving up financing needs. It is expected that in the next few years, the prefabricated dish industry will see a financing boom. In addition, affected by the trend of chain catering in China, the consumption of the prefabricated dish B-side market is expected to continue increasing in the future.
It is worth noting that due to differences in the living habits of the new generation of young people and changes in some people's living habits after the pandemic, there is significant room for development in the prefabricated dish C-side marketMore and more prefabricated dish companies have noticed the huge market for individual consumers, and it is expected that the downstream market within the industry will accelerate its shift towards the C-side in the future.
The market scale of China's prefabricated dish industry continues to increase
With the continuous improvement of China's chain catering rate and the increasing recognition of prefabricated dishes by the publicThe market scale of China's prefabricated dish industry continues to rise rapidly, reaching about 350 billion yuan in 2021, a significant increase from about 150 billion yuan in 2017, with an annual compound growth rate of about 25%.With a large influx of investment and financing funds, the continuous improvement of the chain catering rate and the rapid development of C-side consumptionIt is expected that the market scale will reach about 950 billion yuan in 2026, with an annual compound growth rate of about 20% during this period.
Future Outlook
In recent years, the state has continuously improved legal and regulatory construction, paying great attention to food safety. In addition, food safety inspection standards are becoming increasingly internationalized, and optimizing the food safety inspection system has become one of the important development directions for enterprises in the industry in the future.
Secondly, affected by the accelerating development trend of the C-side market, most leading or mid-tier enterprises face a transformation from serving the B-side to serving the C-side. During this transformation process, more and more enterprises are trying to accelerate their transition from channel marketing models to brand marketing models by building brands.
As an important part of the food processing industry, raw material prices and transportation costs are the main costs of the prefabricated dish industry, having a significant impact on the profitability of related enterprises. In the future, relevant enterprises will continue to research and develop storage technology, improve transportation efficiency, strengthen cold chain logistics digitization capabilities, and enhance their competitiveness.
Enterprises are the cornerstone of the industry. With continuous improvement in their own construction and competitiveness, the prefabricated dish industry will also enter a period of sustained, healthy, and rapid development.
