Source | Zhengdian Consumption Prepared dishes, a hot track in the past two years, seemed to have kept a low profile in 2024. But judging from the financial reports of major listed companies, the market performance of prepared dishes was not as good as imagined. Prepared Dishes Collectively 'Stalled' Weizhixiang, known as the 'first stock of prepared dishes', achieved revenue of 672 million yuan in 2024, a year-on-year decrease of 15.9%; net profit was 88 million yuan, down 35.36% year-on-year; non-GAAP net profit was 82 million yuan, down 37.3% year-on-year. By product, Weizhixiang's meat and poultry products achieved revenue of 447 million yuan, down 15.82% year-on-year; aquatic products revenue was 182 million yuan, down 13.61% year-on-year; other categories revenue was 35 million yuan, down 25.7% year-on-year. That is to say, in 2024, all of Weizhixiang's product revenues showed double-digit year-on-year declines. 'A glimpse of the whole picture.' Guolian Aquatic Products achieved revenue of 3.409 billion yuan, down 26.16% year-on-year; net profit and non-GAAP net profit were losses of 742 million yuan and 759 million yuan, respectively, down 39.62% and 82.76% year-on-year. Its main aquatic food revenue was 3.232 billion yuan, down 25.15% year-on-year. Huifa Foods achieved revenue of 1.925 billion yuan in 2024, down 3.61% year-on-year (after deducting revenue unrelated to main business and revenue without commercial substance, revenue was less than 1.9 billion yuan, down 3.86% year-on-year); net profit was a loss of 17 million yuan, down 320.68% year-on-year; non-GAAP net profit was a loss of 20 million yuan, down 644.78% year-on-year. It is worth mentioning that almost all of Huifa Foods' prepared dish-related categories 'declined across the board', such as meatball products, fried products, sausage products, and skewer products, while the 'Chinese cuisine' category revenue was 181 million yuan, down 17.94% year-on-year, the largest decline among all Huifa Foods products. Chunxue Foods, which focuses on chicken prepared dishes, achieved revenue of 2.514 billion yuan in 2024, down 10.08% year-on-year; fortunately, net profit and non-GAAP net profit both turned profitable, but they were only over 8 million and over 3 million yuan, respectively... Among them, the sales volume of prepared dishes (prepared dishes) increased slightly (0.43%), but revenue was only 1.18 billion yuan, down 0.87% year-on-year. Of course, there are also companies with relatively good performance in prepared dishes. For example, Anjoy Foods, the leader in the quick-frozen industry, although 2024 can be described as 'increasing revenue but not profit', its prepared dishes business performed well. According to the financial report, Anjoy Foods' quick-frozen dishes products achieved revenue of 4.349 billion yuan, up 10.76% year-on-year. Gross margin increased by 0.11 percentage points to 11.76%. Haixin Foods achieved revenue of 1.706 billion yuan, a slight decrease of 0.54% year-on-year; non-GAAP net profit was a loss of 43 million yuan, an increase of 266.05% year-on-year. Although prepared dishes (quick-frozen dishes) revenue was 482 million yuan, a significant increase of 61.11% year-on-year. Gaishi Foods, which claims 'Gai Shi cold dishes, sold well in 66 countries worldwide', also saw increases in both revenue and net profit. Why Is It No Longer 'Fragrant'? In the past two years, prepared dishes have been a 'star' track. From industry leaders to new consumer brands, they are all competing to lay out related products; and Guangdong, Sichuan and other places have issued policies to promote the development of the prepared dishes industry... But to this day, those who are ahead are still some companies that originally made quick-frozen products. On the one hand, these companies have been deeply cultivating the quick-frozen track for many years, and have more advantages in terms of raw materials, warehousing, products, and channels; on the other hand, the strong demand for prepared dishes is mainly concentrated in the B-end, which is also the resource advantage of these industry leaders. Workers operate on a prepared aquatic product processing line (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhou Yi) But not all B-end catering advocates prepared dishes. As prepared dishes have become controversial, more and more restaurants are using 'never use prepared dishes' as a selling point. The reason why 80% of prepared dish consumption is focused on the B-end is mainly because C-end consumers do not recognize prepared dishes. Yang Huaiyu, an analyst in the consumer industry and senior researcher at Shanghai Xiazhiliangshi Consulting Management Company, said: 'Consumers have doubts about the taste, safety, and nutrition of prepared dishes. Negative events such as the '槽头肉' (neck meat) incident have further weakened market trust. Some chain catering brands focus on the concept of 'no prepared dishes', directly affecting the B-end sales channels of prepared dish companies. Although the state has introduced policies to regulate industry development, it has also brought higher compliance costs, increasing pressure on small and medium-sized enterprises. At the same time, industry competition has intensified, new entrants have increased, investment and financing enthusiasm has declined, and corporate expansion has been restricted. Facing difficulties, some companies have turned to the C-end market, focusing on product quality improvement and brand building, exploring differentiated development paths, such as frozen baking, grilled sausages and other sub-categories performing well. In addition, some companies are trying to go overseas to seek new growth points, but they need to adapt to different market demands. Overall, the prepared dishes industry is in an adjustment period. The key to future development lies in improving product strength, optimizing supply chains, and enhancing consumer recognition.' China food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng further pointed out: 'At present, the national standard for prepared dishes has not yet been issued. Under this background, policies are promoting, capital is promoting, and the industry is promoting, but ultimately the consumers who pay do not recognize it.' It is worth mentioning that although prepared dishes is a large track, it is not a 'money-making' track. According to the 2024 financial reports of various companies, Guolian Aquatic Products' prepared dishes category gross margin increased by 2.89 percentage points, but it was still only 9.95%; Longda Meishi's prepared dishes gross margin was 9.41%; Haixin Foods' quick-frozen dishes gross margin continued to decline, only 9.97%; Chunxue Foods' gross margin decreased by 1.88 percentage points to 12.93%; Qianwei Central Kitchen's 'frozen prepared dishes and others' business gross margin was 14.87%... Therefore, for the entire prepared dishes industry, 'consolidating the B-end and expanding the C-end' will be the goal that various brands compete to achieve, but this is destined to be a slow process.