In recent years, mass-market dining has flourished while high-end dining has shown signs of fatigue, but the pandemic has prompted deep reflection and business impact on the catering industry. In the post-pandemic era, new restaurants continue to open, and some high-end establishments have quickly recovered, bustling with diners eager to experience them.

Recently, Xinhua News and Xinhua News Agency client aired a video titled 'Exploring Michelin Flavors,' featuring Beijing Shijiu Restaurant, a high-end trendy eatery that has won a Black Pearl one-diamond award and a Michelin star in Beijing. It is a landmark restaurant that food lovers must visit when in Beijing. The restaurant's signature dish, 'Scallion-Braised Qiandao Lake Fish Head,' has earned a reputation across the capital and is ordered at nearly every table. What is the chef's secret behind this seasoning?

-01- In the post-pandemic era, how to innovate deliciousness and attract diners and consumers' taste buds?

The signature dish at Beijing Shijiu Restaurant, 'Scallion-Braised Qiandao Lake Fish Head,' takes seasoning to the extreme. The dish uses carefully selected ingredients, including a premium large fish head from Qiandao Lake, but more importantly, the seasoning secret lies in the innovative addition of Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce.

The powerful ability of Premium Oyster Sauce to enhance freshness and harmonize flavors is widely recognized among chefs. Duan Yu, founder of Shijiu, revealed for the first time that typically, spicy dishes do not include oyster sauce, but he deliberately added Premium Oyster Sauce. He adds it as the final seasoning, which neither masks the fish's natural freshness nor imparts a unique oyster umami, while harmonizing the spicy, numbing, and aromatic flavors to create a rich and complex taste profile.

This innovative seasoning has garnered praise from many diners, including food critic Dong Keping, a culinary consultant for 'A Bite of China' and 'Once Upon a Bite,' who has traveled extensively across China. He raved about the fish head: 'This dish draws on the best of various cuisines, skillfully blending the fragrance of northern scallion braising, the spiciness of the southwest, and the tenderness of southern fish head, encompassing flavors from all over the country. It seems simple, but achieving this fusion is impossible without Premium Oyster Sauce. In many people's minds, Premium Oyster Sauce is a secret passed down among Cantonese chefs. But in fact, oyster sauce has a history of over a hundred years. Since Lee Kum Kee introduced oyster sauce, it has been the first choice for enhancing freshness in all cuisines. Made from fresh oysters simmered to perfection, it meets chefs' strict quality requirements while accommodating all flavor possibilities.'

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Behind this dish, we see not only the chef's deep thinking and innovation in seasoning but also the restaurant and head chef's boldness and foresight in balancing cost and value. Only by creating higher-quality deliciousness for consumers can the value of the dish be truly realized, ensuring diner loyalty and a steady stream of customers.

As Duan Yu said: 'Premium Oyster Sauce costs seven times more than regular oyster sauce on the market, but its value far exceeds that. When cooking, I might use several spoonfuls of other oyster sauces, but with Premium, just one spoonful is enough for freshness. To me, that's true cost-effectiveness.'

The restaurant owner's ability to grasp consumer needs and market trends, the head chef's keen insight and thinking about flavors, and the innovation of dishes to satisfy discerning palates are key to winning over diners.

It can be said that Lee Kum Kee's long-term promotion of the catering industry has also inspired chefs to unlock more potential in using Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce. Previously, only abalone sauce made with Premium Oyster Sauce was considered authentic; now, more dishes are being developed, and with chefs' recommendations, Premium and Lee Kum Kee oyster sauces have entered various cuisines. For example, in Western cuisine, adding Premium Oyster Sauce to the black pepper sauce for steak makes it more palatable.

Another example is the classic Hunan dish 'Steamed Fish Head with Chopped Chili,' which now uses Premium Oyster Sauce in the marinade to remove fishiness and enhance freshness. The compatibility of Premium Oyster Sauce and its ability to harmonize with various flavors across cuisines have been widely recognized by chefs. Not only high-end restaurants but also mass-market eateries use Premium to create signature dishes. This shows that Premium Oyster Sauce is not only cost-effective but also a model for creating value and innovative dishes.

-02- A century-old brand shows vitality, helping family consumers eat better

Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce, made with the century-old family secret recipe, high-quality fresh oysters, and high-purity oyster extract, adheres to 100% quality standards. Its high standards and dedication have made it popular across China and even overseas, earning recognition from professional chefs and food enthusiasts. In the eyes of professionals, Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce is synonymous with high quality, leading the oyster sauce market and dominating the premium segment, becoming a secret weapon in seasoning.

Moreover, Lee Kum Kee has never stopped enabling more consumers to experience the seasoning power of Premium, allowing them to easily enjoy restaurant-quality meals at home. It is reported that Premium Oyster Sauce ranks among the top sellers in O2O new retail channels like Hema and large warehouse club stores like Sam's Club, beloved by professional chefs and food lovers alike.

A distributor who has worked with Lee Kum Kee for over a decade told reporters: 'Lee Kum Kee consistently conducts in-store tasting activities, letting consumers use and feel the oyster sauce. In terms of consumer education, Lee Kum Kee is willing to invest costs and effort.' Behind this behavior, we can not only see Lee Kum Kee's confidence in its products but also clearly sense market changes.

As consumers become more discerning about quality and taste, the authentic and classic flavor of Premium Oyster Sauce makes cooking high-end seafood and meat simple, and turns bland vegetables into something delicious. Countless ordinary household consumers are increasingly recognizing and repurchasing Premium Oyster Sauce.

Recently, Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce, following current marketing trends, launched a Douyin marketing campaign titled 'Beautiful Oyster Life, Fresh One Step Ahead.' Through multi-platform preheating, collaboration with KOLs to precisely target product features, and encouraging users to create food videos using Lee Kum Kee's customized Premium Oyster Sauce theme song, the campaign offers the lucky winner a year's supply of Lee Kum Kee seasonings. This has captured consumers' attention and made the brand image more youthful and three-dimensional, demonstrating the vitality of a century-old brand. It is believed that this campaign will help more consumers discover and become loyal users of Premium.

The implementation of rich marketing activities not only enhances Premium Oyster Sauce's influence among existing consumer groups but also expands potential consumers in the market, especially younger demographics. Their pursuit of delicious food and healthy eating further stimulates market vitality, prompting ordinary consumers who previously paid little attention to professional oyster sauce to proactively try and purchase the product.

In addition to the ultimate pursuit of flavor and marketing innovation, Lee Kum Kee has also innovated in packaging. To solve the pain point of consumers having to pat and shake the bottle to get the sauce out, Lee Kum Kee took the lead in launching squeeze bottles for Premium Oyster Sauce and Choi Sun Oyster Sauce. These are very convenient, easy to squeeze, can be stored upside down without waste, and maintain the consistent high quality with good packaging materials and an air control valve in the cap, ensuring the quality, safety, and hygiene of the oyster sauce. This allows more consumers to enjoy the deliciousness and convenience of Premium Oyster Sauce.

-03- Lee Kum Kee: The classic flavor heritage of a century-old oyster sauce family

In 1888, Lee Kum Kee's founder, Lee Kum Sheung, ran a small tea stall in Nanshui Town, Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, also selling dried oysters. One day, while boiling oysters to make cooked dried oysters, he got busy and neglected the pot, letting it simmer for too long. When he remembered, the oyster water had turned from a milky white broth into a thick, dark sauce with an irresistible aroma. That was the birth of the original Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce.

133 years have passed, and Lee Kum Kee has become a globally renowned sauce kingdom. This success is inseparable from the painstaking efforts of generations of the Lee family and their insistence on quality and deliciousness, allowing the classic flavor of Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce to be passed down and enjoyed by the world.

Lee Kum Kee's long-term commitment to quality, market investment, and consumer education will become valuable assets for the company. In China, there are not many enterprises that can survive for a century. The reason Lee Kum Kee has become a century-old enterprise is precisely because it does not pursue short-term profits but instead creates value for consumers, customers, and society.

These investments that may not bring short-term benefits to the company will, over time, feed back into the enterprise, demonstrating their long-term value. This is the business secret that ensures Lee Kum Kee's enduring prosperity for a century.

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