---
title: "Baijia Food is about to go public! How is the instant food track growing behind the IPO?"
description: "Instant food has been one of the fastest-growing sub-sectors during the pandemic, with a wave of innovation and phenomenal products in health-oriented and premium directions. But as the pandemic fades, many new brands are being exposed when the market returns to normal. This article uses Baijia Food as a case study to explore the investment logic and underlying variables of the instant food track, covering category, channels, supply chain, and marketing."
author: "苏荣菲"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2022-01-13"
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# Baijia Food is about to go public! How is the instant food track growing behind the IPO?

> Instant food has been one of the fastest-growing sub-sectors during the pandemic, with a wave of innovation and phenomenal products in health-oriented and premium directions. But as the pandemic fades, many new brands are being exposed when the market returns to normal. This article uses Baijia Food as a case study to explore the investment logic and underlying variables of the instant food track, covering category, channels, supply chain, and marketing.

Source: Wave New Consumption (ID: lcxinxiaofei)

**Instant food is one of the fastest-growing sub-sectors during the pandemic, with a wave of innovation and phenomenal products in health-oriented and premium directions.**

But as the pandemic fades, many new brands are being exposed when the market returns to normal. **In fact, many industries face similar issues: when the tide comes, how to正视 a category's growth space? When the market cools, what is the brand's long-term core capability?**

Around this topic, in a recent online event for members of the New Wave Brand Club, Yin Linyi, Managing Director of Binfu Capital, shared in-depth insights on the investment logic and underlying variables of the instant food track from dimensions such as category, channels, supply chain, and marketing, using Baijia Food as a case study.

(Yin Linyi, Managing Director of Binfu Capital)

Binfu Capital is a research-driven consumer investment institution. Yin Linyi is mainly responsible for consumer sector investments, leading investments in excellent consumer goods and internet projects such as NZ Miracle, Baijia Food, Guanzhan Huajiao, Panghu Ershe, Bicheng E-commerce, and Convertlab.

**From her systematic and in-depth review of sub-sectors, we can also reflect on whether our own practices and thinking in various dimensions are clear.**

Below are selected highlights to share with you!

Hello everyone, I am Yin Linyi from Binfu Capital. Today my topic is **an in-depth review of sub-sectors.**

Many friends know that we invested in an instant food company called Baijia Food. The company is developing well and may go public this year. **So today I will use instant food as an example to share the investment logic and variable thinking of sub-sectors.**

**From demographic structure and demand changes to see the category opportunity of instant food**

Based on the driving forces behind the changes in market demand and supply for instant food, let me first share the category opportunities we see.

## **1. Comparing demographic and consumption changes in Japan and the U.S. to see the rise of Chinese instant food.**

**We pay close attention to demographic structure when looking at new consumer products.**

Last year, the national census (seventh census) provided data on single population, marriage rate, fertility rate, etc. These data show significant changes in social demographic structure and are very worthy of reference. We can also compare China with the U.S. in the 1970s-80s and Japan in the 1990s.

**First, in terms of private consumption rate, the U.S. reached 60% in the 1970s-80s, Japan 54%, while China is currently at 40%.**

Second, let's look at the global context these countries faced. The U.S. faced the rise and competition of new manufacturing from Germany and Japan; Japan faced trade frictions in high-tech, semiconductors, electronics, automobiles, etc.

China, starting from 2018, has had trade frictions with the U.S., and by 2020 the pandemic hit, making the internal and external economic environment quite turbulent.

**In terms of economic development stage, the U.S. was in a period of stagflation, with heavy investment in gold and the rise of consumerism. China is currently experiencing similar conditions.**

In terms of demographic structure, in the U.S. at that time, more than half of women entered the workforce, with a very high proportion of young women working; in Japan in the 1990s, one-person households accounted for 23%, while in China in 2017, the proportion was about 15.6%, up from 13-14% in 2015, so it is rising quickly.

**Moreover, reports predict that by 2021, China's solitary population, i.e., unmarried and adults living alone, will increase to over 90 million.** At the same time, the employment rate of Chinese women is very high, which also gives rise to many new consumption scenarios.

**Therefore, in terms of consumption characteristics, China, Japan, and the U.S. show great consistency in "eating," all pursuing refinement and convenience, with the single-person dining scenario growing rapidly.**

From the perspective of new consumption demographics and channels, Generation Z is the main consumer group, or we can expand to pan-Generation Z, i.e., those born between 1985 and 2009.

**The post-90s/00s, as only children, receive parental support in housing and living, have strong consumption power, and are highly receptive to new things.**

At the same time, they are Internet natives, easily influenced by online content, and follow KOL-endorsed and promoted products. Japan in the 1990s was not as digitalized; fashion magazines then can be compared to today's Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu), Douyin, and other fashion platforms. **Consumer products advertise on platforms, and content providers produce content that pursues refined, convenient, and easy lifestyles, accelerating the formation of consumption habits.**

So, comparing consumption trends across the three countries, **in luxury, premium, and convenience consumption scenarios, such as convenience stores, dining out, and premium instant food, there are consistent characteristics of macro demographic structure and consumption patterns.**

## **2. How can instant food capture the takeout population?**

**The increase in eating out and takeout also brings growth opportunities for instant food.**

According to the chart above, the market size of China's takeout industry has grown very rapidly in recent years, from over 120 billion yuan in 2015 to about 600 billion yuan in 2019, almost quintupling. **Such a large volume with such high growth indicates rapid changes in consumption habits.**

At the same time, Meituan data shows that in 2018, the takeout market exceeded 240 billion yuan, with online platform orders reaching 300 million people, about 25% of the total population, with an average price of 20-35 yuan.

Data from the first half of 2019 shows that 80/90s aged 20-34 accounted for 86% of takeout consumers, and more than half of the main consumption venues were in residential areas, **indicating that consumers in this age group are accustomed to solving dining problems through takeout.**

Takeout essentially provides a solution for single-person dining scenarios. If industrialized instant food can be more convenient, premium, with higher fidelity, better taste, and closer to restaurant-style, can it also capture this population?

I think the answer is yes. So we look at opportunities in the instant food track (ambient & frozen).

**In fact, the frozen food market is smaller than takeout, and most of it is still in raw materials.**

Comparing China's per capita frozen food consumption with developed economies like the U.S., Japan, and the EU, we see that China's per capita consumption is only about 10 kilograms, leaving double the space to Japan and even more to the U.S.

**We can roughly divide frozen food into three categories: rice and flour products, such as Sanquan and Synear; hot pot products, such as Anjoy; and other frozen foods.**

In the entire track, hot pot products have grown faster than rice and flour products in recent years because hot pot products are more between staple food and dishes.

For example, semi-finished products like meatballs can be used as a semi-finished dish when people don't want to cook complex meals at home.

At the same time, in recent years, many companies like Sanquan, Anjoy, and Guoquan have been promoting a third category of frozen pre-made dishes.

**In developed countries, frozen pre-made dishes account for a very large proportion of frozen products. We believe this is also a form of instant food and a very good investment opportunity with rapid growth.**

**Four underlying variables of instant food**

I've talked about the demand and supply of instant food. Now let me briefly discuss our investment logic and some underlying variables.

This is divided into four major blocks: **category and product, channels, supply chain, and marketing.**

## **1. Two dimensions of category and product innovation**

**First, category. Why is instant food new?**

Globally, the variety of food formats and products is very high. China still has a gap compared with developed countries because our consumption habits are still being formed.

**How can new brands innovate in category and product?** There are two aspects: **demographic innovation and consumption scenario innovation.**

First, in terms of demographics, when positioning products, we need to detail consumer profiles from both **biological attributes** and **social attributes.**

**At the biological attribute level, we can divide by gender, age, and health status.**

For example, students in their teens are in a stage of growing and eating more; young women are in a stage of focusing on health and low calories; those slightly older or with underlying health conditions are in a stage of focusing on low-salt, low-oil healthy eating habits.

**At the social attribute level, we can more clearly define product usage scenarios based on a person's occupation, income, and common scenarios.**

For example, Tmall divides people into eight categories, such as white-collar, students, and mothers based on occupation.

By dividing according to different demographics, we can make clear positioning when launching the first wave of products.

**Returning to instant food, people's demands for food are nothing more than eating full, eating healthy, eating slimmer, and eating refined. These demands can be combined with consumers' biological and social attributes to launch new products.**

Second, in scenario innovation, previous brands focused on convenience, such as Master Kong, Uni-President, and Jinmailang, targeting scenarios like trains where eating is inconvenient.

**Now there are many premium consumption scenarios, such as single people valuing convenience, and young white-collar workers wanting a quick dish in 5 minutes after returning home.** Sometimes they emphasize ambiance, such as on weekends when one person wants to eat instant food with design or plating but doesn't want to make it complicated. Then they might eat pre-made dishes with a bottle of pre-mixed cocktail to enjoy the solitary ambiance. **There are also scenarios like college dormitories where cooking is inconvenient; through product design with different containers and convenient heating methods, you can hit the minds of this wave of consumers.**

**On weekends or holidays, young people like to invite friends over for hot pot and barbecue, which is a scenario that requires sharing, topicality, and aesthetics, shareable on WeChat Moments or Little Red Book.**

**Therefore, when designing products and categories, new consumer brands need to pay attention to variables such as consumers' biological attributes, social attributes, and consumption scenarios, and refine details.**

**When we invested in Baijia, we referred to a well-known company—Nissin, which is worth deep exploration and learning.**

**Nissin's annual report shows that as Japan's demographic structure shifts from spindle-shaped to inverted pyramid, its main consumer group is shifting from young and middle-aged men to middle-aged and elderly.** Accordingly, Nissin has gradually expanded some flavors. Originally, their products mainly targeted active middle-aged and elderly customers with traditional flavors.

**As the population expands toward younger or female demographics, they have launched many new flavors, such as Japanese-style products for women.** When serving the next generation, the Z世代 cohort, they focus on packaging products suitable for online dissemination, with more topicality. **It can be seen that for the core instant noodle consumer group, Nissin gives consumers different mind positioning, meets their different needs, and through diversified, health-oriented, and premium product development, widens the price band of instant food, thereby reaching more customer groups.**

**The bottom-left is Cup Noodles, a main product in China. The far left is its light version, similar to sugar-free cola, with less oil, salt, and seasoning, fresher and healthier, targeting health-conscious consumers; the middle Big is an extra-large version targeting those with larger appetites; the bottom-right mini version targets those who want snacks and portion control. Just one seafood flavor has so many different scenarios to cover, showing that Nissin has done very detailed research on consumer demographics and scenarios, allowing it to continuously innovate and keep the old brand Cup Noodles alive.**

## **2. Offline deep distribution channels are the core capability of food companies**

Now let's look at channels. **Today, a large part of new brands' products are launched with online as the main channel.**

But online channels like Taobao, JD.com, Douyin, and community group buying are very fragmented. On these dazzling channels, food penetration is not as high as standard products like cosmetics and 3C. **Most food transactions still occur offline**, such as fresh food specialty stores, fresh convenience stores, wet markets, supermarkets, convenience stores, and mom-and-pop shops.

**Channels are a point we pay close attention to when investing in instant food.** We summarize the tactics and financial models of different channels, and how to share profits with platforms, distributors, and other parties.

For example, how to allocate the gross margin after leaving the factory so that participants at each stage can make money.

(This table is our standard for judging instant food investment targets)

When we look at Baijia, we refer to some giants that have reached tens of billions in scale, such as Master Kong, Uni-President, Jinmailang, and Baixiang, to see how they built their omni-channel presence. **Offline deep distribution channels are the core capability of food companies, and channels are divided into six stages:**

**First, the awareness-oriented stage.** That is, how to push products into channels so that brand distributors and terminal outlets know about your new brand.

For the first stage, we assess distributors' regional coverage, quantity, salesperson numbers, and terminal store placement rate. **Second, the increment-oriented stage.** After the brand has some sell-through, how do distributors and the brand work together to create increments? **This includes new brand placement, new market development, deep mining, horizontal market coverage, and efficiency optimization of the channel structure.**

For example, how to improve inventory turnover, how to accurately push products into channels, how terminal salespeople push consumer goods to consumers for consumer education, at what time points to do promotions, and how to optimize the sales team. **Third, the promotion-oriented stage. We make judgments on the three-dimensional structure, examining land, sea, and air brand marketing.**

For example, after the air force strikes, we look at whether regional coverage is precise enough, and how key distributors create templates in key markets. When advertising on Douyin or Focus Media, are there regional placement plans so that people can go from brand awareness to brand consumption and eventually become loyal users? **Fourth, financial strength.** Master Kong and Uni-President made supermarkets their second landlords by buying shelf space, keeping products on shelves. If it's a fast-moving product, it will have a certain monthly transaction volume at each terminal. **However, this requires a lot of capital, which is something for many innovative brands to consider at later stages.** **Finally, offline.** The process of brands gradually shifting to the Internet is also the process of traditional companies following consumption channel changes and gradually moving toward omni-channel.

## **3. How to achieve win-win in the channel from a supply chain perspective?**

**In supply chain, we mainly focus on two major blocks: asset turnover speed and R&D capability.**

In terms of asset turnover speed, there are several important indicators. **First is fixed asset turnover speed, mainly three points:** **First, capacity utilization.**

If capacity utilization is not high, we look at the specific reasons: whether there was over-investment in production, whether market demand for the product is not that strong, or whether the company is building channels, resulting in lower capacity utilization. **Additionally, new production lines and new factories. If old capacity has reached full production, we look at whether the company is building new factories and adding capacity.** **Because when market demand is very strong and supply is scarce, new capacity can quickly fill market supply needs, which is a way for instant food companies to quickly capture market dividends.**

**The second important indicator is inventory turnover speed.** Because food has a short shelf life, if inventory turnover is too slow, it may cause inventory devaluation and losses. **If the company has too much inventory, we look at whether the product's market positioning is not precise enough, causing slow sales;** or whether it misjudged channel consumption, possibly overestimating demand in certain regions or channels. **Finally, we look at the brand's control over the distributor system.** If the sell-through path is smooth, then from production, warehousing, shipping to terminal sales, turnover will be very fast, which is reflected in the company's inventory turnover speed.

**The third important indicator is accounts receivable turnover speed.** This number reflects the product's position in the market, whether the brand is stronger or distributors and channels are stronger. **If distributors and channels are too strong, accounts receivable turnover may be slow, making it difficult to recover funds from downstream.** **Additionally, accounts receivable turnover also reflects product promotion speed.** After products are launched, if PMF (product-market fit) is good, promotion speed will be faster, and distributors' payment terms and sell-through speed will be stable, thus improving accounts receivable turnover. **In short, these data indicators actually reflect the company's product production, design, and channel building capabilities.**

**R&D capability is the second major block in the supply chain.** For a food company, we highly value whether it can adapt to the endless new demands in the market or combine overseas product forms with the Chinese market. **Vertically, R&D capability is not only reflected in R&D expenses, but also in R&D personnel, R&D planning, and revenue share.** **Horizontally, we look at the annual increase in R&D investment and compare it with other companies in the market in terms of R&D investment share and direction to determine which company has stronger R&D capability.**

We invested in Baijia in 2019. At that time, I saw that the hottest category in the market was self-heating devices. Although this was already a mature product, **combining it with healthy and premium ingredients in scenarios where heating is not possible was a relatively new category.** **Now, brands like Zihaiguo and Haidilao have cultivated new categories like self-heating rice and self-heating hot pot, which is also a reflection of the company's R&D capability.**

**In addition to categories, we also look at new product innovation, including flavor innovation and scenario innovation.** In flavor innovation, we can explore traditional flavors. For example, Baijia has a plan called "One City, One Noodle" to turn traditional local noodle dishes into instant food. **At the same time, traditional flavors can be combined with new flavors, such as introducing Japanese and Korean flavors and combining them with traditional Chinese ingredients.** In scenario innovation, using boxed or bowl-type self-heating devices, you don't even need to wash the bowl after eating; you can just throw it away after sorting, making the consumption scenario more convenient.

**Additionally, the speed and capability of the company to launch new products are also important.** We verify the new SKUs launched in the market each year, identify which ones successfully sell through, and then look back at whether there are points to improve efficiency in the product innovation process, from mining market selling points to industrial mass production.

**Finally, we also pay attention to new technology innovation.** For example, semi-dry quick-cooking technology has emerged. Originally, pasta needed to be cooked for 15-20 minutes; now there are brands that can cook in 4-5 minutes, saving consumers more time. Another example is additives. Originally, Zhou Hei Ya and Juewei had fresh-lock packaging; now, with almost no additives, rice can be kept at room temperature for 30-45 days. There are also new technologies in flavor fidelity. Previously, many traditional products used powder and essence to create flavors; now, some complex flavors can be restored with high fidelity.

**In short, through R&D investment, companies can present innovative products to consumers, continuously provide new products to channels, and allow channels to make money, thus achieving a win-win in the channel.**

## **4. Fragmented traffic brings fragmented marketing**

For marketing, we borrow Tmall's method, called AIPL (Awareness, Interest, Purchase, Loyalty).

**First, have a deep understanding of brand positioning.**

**In fact, many companies we invested in have already jumped out of single channels and become omni-channel brands. At this time, thinking about brand positioning itself is very important.** For example, for the Kuaishou channel, the first impression might be that Kuaishou consumers have lower average order value, are more down-market, value cost-effectiveness, and don't pay much attention to brands. I think that's partly true.

**But as an omni-channel brand, it is even more necessary to have precise grasp and understanding of the match between the brand and the channel.** **Companies like Baijia, which have both back-end R&D and production capabilities and front-end multi-brand design capabilities, have a deep grasp and understanding of whether the brand can sell on this channel.** One of their original products was priced at two or three yuan. Putting it on a new channel like Kuaishou, the audience is very fitting, so it naturally achieves good sales performance.

**Second, precisely grasp and understand channel traffic changes.** When we first invested in consumer products, Douyin was just rising. It was only a channel for young people to make music and videos. Now, Douyin may have become the fourth pole of e-commerce. This shows how fast traffic changes in just a few years. **Now, traffic fragmentation is very high. We need to follow the pulse of traffic changes and make marketing more fragmented.** Therefore, each channel needs its own team and tactics, and content display methods should be tailored to the terminal audience and traffic play methods that the channel can touch, for intensive cultivation.

**Third, strive for excellence in placement details.** Since last year, the ROI of online placement for many new consumer products has begun to decline, and the GMV of major live streamers has also dropped significantly. Brands may not make money from placement. **So, when the ROI of the entire market is declining, it is even more important to refine placement details, which places high demands on placement content display, pages, the convenience and accuracy of the final transaction path, and the e-commerce team.**

**Fourth, deeply mine and maintain brand customers.** **In fact, some consumer products are very suitable for private domain e-commerce. For example, some categories require continuous market education and customer service interaction to mine new demands, and when new demands arise, supply can be delivered to customers appropriately. Some fast-moving products, such as low-priced, low-decision foods, are not as cost-effective for private domain operations; they may pay more attention to channel distribution. Such products can build brand loyalty and repeat purchases through offline channel points, buy-one-get-one, and new flavor surprises.**

**Fifth, pay attention to cost control.** Many consumer goods companies are now afraid to invest in placement, feeling that placement efficiency has declined. I think this may be a good opportunity to pause and make marketing costs more precise. **Originally, extensive placement could bring rapid GMV and sales growth. Now, precise placement is needed, which is a window period to polish the company's marketing tactics and placement logic.**

**Using Baijia Food as an example to break down the investment logic of instant food**

**Next, I will use Baijia Food as an example to break down the investment logic of the instant food track.** We invested at the end of 2019. Internally, we first did track project initiation to clarify what kind of brands and supply should meet the clothing, food, housing, and transportation needs of new demographics. After project initiation, we scanned and searched the track. **We sorted out the projects that were raising funds in the market at that time, determined the big background trends, and drew a four-quadrant chart with the vertical axis representing price range and the horizontal axis representing products with different levels of innovation.** **Among them, Master Kong, Uni-President, Baixiang, and Jinmailang are traditional brands. They also saw this premium trend and invited Xiao Zhan to endorse Kaixiaozao in 2019, but they are still relatively traditional.** **In addition to these giants, many new brands have emerged, not only with good flavors but also very youthful packaging and distinctive marketing, fitting new consumption scenarios.** These new brands are very new in product UI design, advertising content, and marketing channels, focusing on product innovation and moving toward mid-to-high-end prices. **Brands in the bottom-right quadrant, which are cheap and lack innovation, can only fight price wars and are not within our investment target range.**

After scanning the entire track, we looked in the top-right quadrant. In this quadrant, although traditional brands are following trends, startups also have opportunities to overtake through new channels and new brands. **How to choose among them? As mentioned earlier, we pay great attention to supply chain and R&D capabilities, so when Baijia appeared, we quickly pulled the trigger and invested.** In 2020, when the pandemic hit, all instant food sold out, and many new brands appeared in the instant food track, with fierce competition. **After the pandemic, many new brands went to offline channels to distribute, but after a few months they disappeared because PSD (Per Store Per Day) was not good.**

**So, in this hot track, how to maintain your competitive position?** **This brings us back to the four directions I mentioned earlier: first, continuous product innovation and channel cultivation; second, marketing excellence; third, platform image positioning; fourth, gradual improvement of the back-end supply chain.** **Only by making efforts in every aspect can new brands gradually stand out in fierce competition.**

**QA Excerpt: About R&D investment, online-offline order...**

**Q1: What is a healthy R&D/revenue ratio in the food and beverage sector? How should a healthy gross margin price be composed?**

**Answer:** I can give data from several listed companies. For example, a listed company makes frozen food with a relatively simple product form—it pre-seasones some dishes so you can cook them quickly at home. Its R&D expense ratio is very low, possibly less than one percentage point, and annual R&D expenses may be less than 1 million yuan. **Anjoy, which makes hot pot pre-made dishes, has higher R&D expenses, possibly with new R&D investment in product development and capacity utilization improvement.**

Gross margin is hard to say. I think everyone can use listed companies as a benchmark because the expense ratio of listed companies may reflect the company's performance after reaching a relatively stable state.

Currently, many food companies have gross margins around 35-50%. If listed companies can maintain good growth, this may be a healthy figure.

**Q2: In the current era of heavy marketing, how do you view the marketing tactic of burning money online for exposure? If not heavily playing with traffic, are there other ways for new brands to break out?**

**Answer:** Personally, I don't quite agree with burning money for exposure because FMCG, especially food, still depends on repeat purchases. Without good product strength, price, and channel distribution, relying solely on online advertising may not be able to handle the traffic. You can look at some Japanese food advertisements on Bilibili. I think they are very creative. Through reversals or implicit meanings, they make a deep impression on the audience, and people remember the advertiser behind the ad.

**This may be a good way to break out in the current era of content platforms and endless content.**

**Q3: How do you view the feasibility of brands starting with offline channels first and then feeding back online?**

**Answer:** Personally, I believe offline is harder than online, especially deep distribution, distribution, and some direct sales channels, which require strong organizational capabilities. **Among the companies we invested in, some started offline, built a certain base, accumulated consumer awareness, and then fed back online successfully.** **For example, Baijia and NZ Miracle are both entrepreneurs who started offline. After planting flags in major consumer channels across China, they invited spokespersons or increased placement online, achieving resonance of brand influence online and offline.**

**Q4: At what stage should a brand-new food brand start building offline distribution channels?**

**Answer:** We have thought about this before. It might be around 300-500 million yuan in revenue that you can start considering offline distribution channel construction. If you have resources, you can do it earlier. **If too early, online costs are high, such as CS channel entry fees, supermarket entry fees, and sales personnel costs, which are less efficient than online.** **But some brands have capacity limits online. When you reach 3-5% of the total GMV of the large category in that channel, you may face the challenge of breaking through that volume.** **If you can still make money in the original channel, then expanding to new channels may be a better time.**

**Q5: Recently, there are many players in instant food, including Zihaiguo, which has started to lay out. They have launched dozens of categories like Luosifen, but the main pot has repeat purchase problems. Where do you think this wave of new consumption can go in the next stage?**

**Answer: Whether it's Zihaiguo, Baijia, or many other new brands, they will definitely gradually expand to full categories. This is the natural nature of enterprise expansion.**

As for where the next stage can go, recently everyone is saying that new consumption investment seems to have suddenly cooled down. Last year's wave of consumption heat may have several reasons: on one hand, channels were pushing hard; on the other hand, capital had more money and was willing to try new consumer products. **This led to everyone burning money on placement without burning out good repeat purchases, so they began to dare not invest, and new consumption entered a slightly cooling stage.** In the next stage, we strongly believe in R&D and product innovation capabilities. To make products have strong vitality, you need not only to follow traffic changes but also to follow human nature. **For example, cosmetics need beauty efficacy, and food needs to be delicious on the basis of cost-effectiveness. This cannot be solved by marketing but by supply chain polishing and product R&D.**

So I think in the next step, everyone can put more energy and funds into R&D.

**Are you "watching" me?**


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