What are the pre-made dishes that dominated the New Year's Eve dinner table? This year is the first year that pre-made dishes have entered the New Year's Eve dinner market. When I casually searched for keywords online, I found that on various platforms, there were so many pre-made dishes that I couldn't see the bottom even after scrolling several screens. A wide variety of dishes – famous dishes from several major cuisines and innovative dishes are available, and many dishes allow you to choose weight and specifications; a wide variety of types – ready-to-eat, ready-to-heat, and ready-to-cook options are all available, as are single items and combination gift box sets; a wide variety of brands – not only pre-made dish brands, but also familiar faces from other tracks have entered. This Spring Festival, the supply side of pre-made dishes has made a strong showing, and the demand side has embraced them. With supply and demand connecting, search volume and sales of pre-made dishes have surged, dominating the New Year's Eve dinner market. (Left: Dingdong Maicai; Center: Hema; Right: Taobao) Five major players are in fierce competition Pre-made dishes in China started in the B2B market, and as consumer habits changed, they expanded to the B2C market, with the proportion of B2C gradually increasing. From the perspective of corporate composition, companies that previously made pre-made dishes were mostly supply chains of catering enterprises, but as this track with relatively low barriers heats up, some other companies from other sectors have also entered. Currently, there are five types of players in the pre-made dish track: 【Professional pre-made dish companies】Representative companies include Weizhixiang, the "first pre-made dish stock," Zhenwei Xiaomeiyuan, which recently completed its fifth round of financing, as well as Zhenghuizhu and Congchu. Target market: B2B Features and highlights: Fewer cuisines, more categories, rich experience in making dishes, and products closer to customer needs This type of company includes those established between 2000 and 2010, as well as new companies added after 2016. Tianyancha data shows that in the past decade, the overall development of the domestic pre-made dish industry has been good, with the annual registration of pre-made dish-related companies growing rapidly. In 2019 and 2020, more than 12,000 new pre-made dish-related companies were added each year. Professional pre-made dish companies, like local-flavor restaurants, specialize in one or a few cuisines, researching dishes in those cuisines year-round and turning them into semi-finished products for restaurants of the same cuisine. 【Catering enterprises】The catering companies that stand out in pre-made dishes are mostly those that already have supply chains and entered the game after 2015 or 2016, such as Haidilao, Xibei, Guangzhou Restaurant, and Meizhou Dongpo. Target market: B2C Features and highlights: Strong brand power and precise insight into customer needs Catering companies started making pre-made dishes earlier. In 2005, Xinya and Quanjude began making pre-made dishes for retail channels. For C-end customers, catering companies have high brand and dish recognition, and have both online and offline customer acquisition channels, which is conducive to promotion. Catering brands usually turn their signature dishes into "pre-made gift boxes," generally divided into portions for 3-4 people, 6-8 people, and about 10 people, with prices ranging from over a hundred yuan to nearly a thousand yuan. According to data from the China Chain Store & Franchise Association, currently more than 74% of domestic chain catering brands have built their own central kitchens, and more than half of catering brands have developed pre-made dish products. However, most catering companies only regard pre-made dishes as a secondary growth line for restaurants, with limited product quantity and innovation capabilities. 【Agricultural, animal husbandry, and aquatic product enterprises】In this field, the more well-known pre-made dish companies include Sunner Development, Guolian Aquatic Products, Longda Meishi, and Delisi. Target market: B2B Features and highlights: Strong R&D capabilities and raw material cost advantages Agricultural, animal husbandry, and aquatic product enterprises are themselves upstream in the pre-made dish industry chain. The threshold for pre-processing is not high, and profit expectations are good, giving them the advantage of "being the first to get the moon from the nearby tower." They mainly produce prepared products and seasoning packages, with strong R&D and innovation capabilities. 【Traditional frozen food companies】The more well-known companies of this type include Anjoy Foods, Qianwei Central Kitchen, and Sanquan Foods. Target market: Both B2B and B2C Features and highlights: More SKUs and obvious supply chain advantages Frozen food companies have advantages in the key indicators required for pre-made dishes: "standardization," "industrialization," and "cold chain." In addition, the traditional frozen food industry also has important customers such as large supermarkets, and also has advantages in distribution channels. Furthermore, frozen food companies have a certain brand awareness on both the B-end and C-end, and have a natural memory association with the "quick freezing" technology of pre-made dishes. Pre-made dish products produced by frozen food companies often come with their own "fans." 【Retail enterprises】The more famous ones are Hema, Dingdong Maicai, Miss Fresh, Meituan Maicai, and Yonghui Superstores. Target market: B2C Features and highlights: Many styles, complete categories, and a certain number of products are co-branded with related companies The popularity of pre-made dishes on the C-end cannot be separated from the promotion of new retail platforms such as fresh food supermarkets. The pandemic changed consumer habits. The daily and monthly active users of fresh food retail platforms in the near-field e-commerce track have surged. They have advantages such as front warehouses, delivery systems, user bases, and cooperative relationships with other pre-made dish-related companies. Retail enterprises have opened their own pre-made dish brands and built pre-made dish sections. Who is the national pre-made New Year's Eve dinner? This year, there are many varieties of pre-made New Year's Eve dinners, flooding the market. Fresh food retail enterprises alone have a large number of pre-made dish SKUs: Miss Fresh has over 800, Dingdong Maicai has over 1,200, and Hema Workshop has over 1,300. So among so many pre-made New Year's Eve dinners, which one is the most attractive to consumers? After reviewing the 2021 Tmall pre-made dish rankings and JD.com sales data, I found some answers. Among pre-made dish single items, hot pot categories sell well. Among them, coconut chicken, beef bones, pork belly chicken, and hot pot platters are all at the top of sales. Jia Guolong Kung Fu Cuisine's beef bones rank 7th on Tmall's pre-made dish hot-selling list and 6th on JD.com's sales ranking, making them a "top stream" among pre-made dish single items. Coconut chicken and pork belly chicken hot pot pre-made dishes also sell well on multiple platforms. Among single items, the most noteworthy is small crispy pork. The list shows that "Meihao" small crispy pork ranks first in Taobao pre-made dish sales, with more than 20,000 orders sold this month. On other platforms, this product and other brands' products also have impressive sales. Buddha Jumps Over the Wall also performs well, frequently appearing in various pre-made dish promotions and reports. At the same time, similar regional famous dishes are also going beyond their regions. Some southern consumers buy pre-made dishes of northern dishes, and vice versa. In addition, pre-made dish gift boxes have also become a hit this year. Among them, gift boxes priced at 300-400 yuan, containing 6-10 products, suitable for about 6 people, are the best-selling. The New Year's Eve dinner gift boxes are mainly based on beef and mutton dishes, supplemented by shrimp, chicken, vegetables, and pastries. Summary This is the first year that pre-made dishes have flooded into the New Year's Eve dinner market. All brands have brought out their "treasures" and successfully created a big splash. Through this large-scale "launch" into the New Year's Eve dinner market, pre-made dish companies can obtain the strictest tests and extensive feedback from the C-end, and adjust future production directions. Secondly, "rushing" to the New Year's Eve dinner table across the national market is also a test of pre-made dish companies' freezing technology, supply chain, cold chain transportation and logistics capabilities, and distribution capabilities. After all, the road ahead for pre-made dishes is still long. Some information sources for this article: "The Pre-made Dish Windfall Is Coming, Heroes Compete in the Blue Ocean Track" Source: Catering Enterprise Boss Internal Reference (ID: cylbnc) -END-