Recently, Lu Zhengyao's prepared dish brand Tongue Hero has seen closures in multiple stores across several cities, drawing attention. Earlier, a franchisee revealed that after four months of operation, they hadn't even earned back their electricity costs, and many franchisees said current store repurchase rates are low, with only 9.9 yuan products selling well. Similarly, someone calculated for the C-end prepared dish brand and listed company Weizhixiang: its 2021 annual report shows 1,319 franchise stores contributed 346 million yuan in revenue, averaging 262,300 yuan per store annually, with an average gross margin of 26.01%. This means each store's annual gross profit is only 6,820 yuan. On one hand, the popularity of prepared dishes remains high; on the other, C-end prepared dish chain brands are seeing poor repurchase and profitability. Thus, many people ask the soul-searching question: Is C-end prepared dishes a false demand? We believe that when discussing demand, we must understand users. Some say the target customer groups for prepared dishes are mainly three types: young people, mothers, and the elderly. For this reason, I specifically visited a physical supermarket on a weekday morning, when the supermarket was mostly elderly. There were two prepared dish sections: one was a vertical freezer area with various frozen prepared dishes like hand-pulled pancakes and sauerkraut fish; the other was a refrigerated area with pre-cut, seasoned, and side-dish-prepared short-shelf-life prepared dishes (3-day shelf life), including stir-fried chicken gizzards, Kung Pao chicken, and black pepper steak. However, few elderly people were seen in these two sections; they gathered in the fresh vegetable and meat areas. When I asked about sales of frozen prepared dishes, a supermarket staff member told me: "Quick-cook dishes are hard to sell." The refrigerated prepared dishes with a 3-day shelf life were slightly better, with some young people inquiring and buying. The staff there said: "Most buyers of these refrigerated prepared dishes are young office workers. The dishes are pre-cut and seasoned, costing 6-7 yuan per dish, and can be stir-fried in a few minutes." From this physical supermarket's situation, it seems young people are still the ones buying prepared dishes. So, are other groups actually the target customers? Moreover, there are differing views on whether the target customers are kitchen novices or skilled cooks. This issue, we chatted with several users who have eaten prepared dishes, including young people, elderly, and mothers. Some eat prepared dishes for all three meals, some only buy them on holidays, some worry about health, and others think prepared dishes are healthy. Let's take a look. New Consumption Think Tank photo of a Tongue Hero store in Wuhan 01 Eat prepared dishes every day, with different meals for all three meals Cai Wang, 32, Planner Based in Shanghai. Everyone has eaten overnight dishes since childhood; in fact, that's prepared food. Prepared dishes have always existed: the clean vegetables at the market, the steamed buns for New Year, the roast duck from the deli—all cater to people's desire for convenience. I can cook and am quite good at it. I choose prepared dishes first because I'm busy and want to save time, and second to eat ingredients not available at the market. Now I solve all three meals with prepared dishes: breakfast instant noodles and egg pancakes, lunch pan-seared salmon, emperor fish, steak, and dinner Buddha jumps over the wall, hand-grabbed lamb, etc. There are so many options that I can eat something different every day. Whenever my fridge is empty, I stock up on various semi-finished prepared dishes. However, my approach to buying prepared dishes may differ from most: I actively seek channels and look for frozen products with clean ingredient lists. For example, I eat a Kunlun Mountain snow duck, whose ingredient list includes western snow duck, white sugar, salt, sand ginger, galangal, onion, orange yellow, and spices—no additives. Also, there's cooked beef and mutton from Hulunbuir grassland, sent by a friend from Inner Mongolia; just heat it up and enjoy restaurant-quality taste. There's also a semi-finished emperor fish specially supplied to Michelin-starred restaurants; no seasoning needed, just steam for 5 minutes and it's delicious. As someone who hates handling ingredients, especially fish, emperor fish is my favorite. Image source: Cai Wang's Xiaohongshu account @不会做只会吃的预制菜王 I've tried many domestic prepared dishes and currently don't recommend them. The top-notch ingredients not available at the market and those requiring culinary skills are what I consider truly good prepared dishes. The unit price of the prepared dishes I buy is generally between 100-300 yuan. I believe that even spending 50 yuan a day on ordinary prepared dishes is cleaner and more hygienic than spending 50 yuan a day eating out. 02 Bring lunch to work every day, occasionally buy hard-dish prepared dishes Yan Yan, 33, Media Reporter Based in Wuhan. I often cook myself and occasionally buy some complex hard-dish prepared dishes. As a media person, I often worry about finding topics and sometimes stay up late writing. But as long as I don't stay up, I cook every day and bring it to the office to heat in the microwave the next day. I think home-cooked food is tasty and healthy. Most of the time, I make delicious home-style dishes, and occasionally fitness meals. Also, I cook fast: I buy ingredients in advance on community group-buying platforms or at the community gate after work, and in 20 minutes at home, I can prepare two meals for myself. So, I don't need home-style prepared dishes and have never bought them. I do buy some hard-dish prepared dishes, like crayfish in summer and beef brisket in winter, usually three portions for 100 yuan. I usually buy them when I happen to see them during live-stream shopping, without continuous repurchase. When I buy them, I usually eat alone while watching a show, or invite friends over. If they're tasty, I also buy some for my parents. My only criterion for buying prepared dishes is that they taste good. I haven't bought many other hard-dish prepared dishes because I have many ways to eat hard dishes: I dine out at restaurants almost every week, my parents in Wuhan can also go out for big meals, and I can cook many hard dishes myself by following recipes, like potato stewed beef brisket, braised prawns, braised fish, and various soups on weekends. The reason I don't have a strong need for prepared dishes might be that I enjoy cooking; even when busy, I try to find time to cook. Some people see cooking as a chore, but I use it to relieve stress. Every time I cook, I feel relaxed. I can temporarily detach from intense work: washing vegetables, chopping, stir-frying—all in one go, with aroma filling the air, life feels vibrant, and I'm recharged. 03 Cook only on weekends, occasionally buy snacks like fries and egg tarts Yang Yang, 27, Cost Engineer Based in Wuhan. I can cook but don't do it often. I repurchase semi-finished prepared dishes like fries and egg tarts, which are more snack-like, for convenience and simplicity. My work hours are 9 to 6. I'm efficient and rarely work overtime. But I have colleagues who frequently interrupt me, disrupting my rhythm. Sometimes the company also occupies after-work time for meetings, even testing meeting content. In short, I feel exhausted from work; every day near the end of the day, I count down to leaving. If I cook after work, including commuting, cooking, and washing dishes, it's 7-8 PM by the time I finish, taking away my rest and entertainment time. So on workdays, I usually don't cook and order takeout. But ordering too much takeout gives me choice fatigue; sometimes I don't know what to order. Based on this, I think prepared dishes might be a new option. So, I bought sauerkraut fish prepared dish. It conveniently has the fish, seasoning, and vegetables all prepared; I just boil it, very convenient. But after eating, first, I didn't think it was tasty; second, even though it looked like I cooked, I found it hard to feel a sense of happiness. But semi-finished items like fries and egg tarts are simple to prepare and give me a sense of achievement. I've also seen those pre-cut 3-day-shelf-life prepared dishes in supermarkets. I wouldn't buy those either. If I've decided to cook, do I lack the two minutes to chop? And these pre-cut ones are more expensive, not cost-effective. But in the last month or two, I cook every weekend because my health isn't good and I need to nourish myself. Although I still find cooking troublesome, I have no choice. I really envy those married families where someone cooks for them. Image source: Haidilao official Weibo 04 Cooking is simple, occasionally buy hard-dish prepared dishes Lan Hua, Middle-aged Worker Based in Tianjin. My husband and I are middle-aged workers. We have two children; our eldest daughter's child is in junior high. Usually, we're at home, busy with work and cooking, so we eat simply, just to get by. We started with prepared dishes when our eldest daughter bought us Meicai Kou Rou (pork belly with preserved vegetables). We've bought Meicai Kou Rou, pork belly chicken, and sauerkraut fish. They're either ready-to-eat or just need simple heating, very convenient, and we can enjoy meat dishes we don't know how to cook. On holidays, we also buy prepared dishes, mainly complex hard dishes. Every holiday when the kids come back, we're happy; as we age, we love lively gatherings and want to prepare a big table for them. But our energy is limited, and sometimes we run out of new ideas, so we buy a few prepared dishes. If grandchildren also come, we buy some semi-finished items like fries and fried skewers that kids love. We worry about the oil used outside, so buying and cooking at home is reassuring, and the kids enjoy it. But for holiday hard-dish prepared dishes, we at most buy Meicai Kou Rou or Four Joy Meatballs. We absolutely won't buy fish or ribs prepared dishes; when the kids rarely come home, cooking fish and stewing meat is a holiday ritual. For middle-aged and elderly people like us, prepared dishes are convenient, but we still worry about their quality and health. We hope merchants can offer fresh, tasty, clean, and hygienic prepared dishes. 05 Often order takeout, only buy simple reheatable prepared dishes A User, 28, Financial Analyst Based in Shanghai. I can't cook. My job is busy with heavy tasks, often without rest days, and staying up late is common. I often eat alone. I came across prepared dishes during the pandemic lockdown; they're convenient and suit an efficiency-seeking worker like me. I usually buy prepared dishes on fresh food platforms like Hema, Dingdong Maicai, and Sam's Club. I have no brand loyalty; I just follow the platform. Unit prices are generally 50-150 yuan. I've bought dishes like sauerkraut fish, boiled pork slices, and crayfish that just need simple heating. But I buy the most are lunch-type reheatable Chinese dishes. I see on fresh food platforms there are also prepared dishes that are prepped but need to be cooked, but I usually don't buy those because they only prepare the ingredients; I still have to cook them, which lengthens the process. For me, that defeats the purpose of prepared dishes and makes them more expensive. Image source: Hema official Weibo Some people worry that prepared dishes are unhealthy, but that's due to lack of understanding. Prepared dishes are factory-produced and meet food standards. After the lockdown ended, I returned to takeout. I eat prepared dishes about once every half month. After all, my requirement for food is efficiency; when busy, takeout is more efficient and suitable for me. Occasionally, I use prepared dishes for a change. For me, takeout, dining out, and Chinese-style prepared dishes are no different; it's just that currently, prepared dishes have fewer varieties than dining out. 06 Child is young, dare not try prepared dishes; after school, no need either Cong Cong, 33, Working Mother Based in Zhengzhou. I'm a working mother; my child is in second grade. I've eaten prepared dishes myself but haven't dared to let my child try them. I was also a full-time mother for three years, taking care of my child alone until kindergarten. Indeed, sometimes cooking is time-pressed: you have to wash, chop, cook, and worry about the child at the same time. But even when busy, I insisted on cooking myself because children's food must be taken seriously, especially for kids under 6. Before my child was 3, prepared dishes were relatively rare, but even if they existed, I almost never considered them. There were many worries: food safety, freshness, and taste. Unless there was no choice, I'd take the child to a nearby restaurant or order takeout. My child went to kindergarten in Beijing, where almost all kindergartens have three meals and two snacks (morning and afternoon snacks). Children need to eat small, frequent meals, which is convenient and doesn't require parental worry. Now that the child is older, we can relax a bit on diet, but we still haven't tried prepared dishes for the child. After starting elementary school, the child usually doesn't come home for lunch; either the school provides meals or it's left to after-school care. Even dinner can be handled by after-school care, and parents pick up whenever they have time. My child eats lunch at after-school care and grandma picks her up in the evening, so we don't need prepared dishes much. Prepared dishes solve the convenience problem, but as a new thing, we parents are still worried and dare not try. 07 Conclusion After chatting with these users, let's try to answer the question raised at the beginning: Is C-end prepared dishes a false demand? Are the target customers skilled cooks or kitchen novices? What groups are actually buying prepared dishes? I lean toward the view that C-end prepared dishes are not a false demand; it's just that the domestic prepared dish industry is just developing, and product and market education are not yet good enough. Because target customers have tried them, but repurchase hasn't picked up, consistent with the Tongue Hero franchisee's disclosure at the beginning. Both novices and skilled cooks buy prepared dishes, but with different preferences: kitchen novices prefer simple reheatable types, while skilled cooks prefer hard dishes and quality ingredients. So, are the target customers mothers, young people, or the elderly? Actually, the target customers are a group of people who want to cook conveniently, regardless of age or social identity. Their core demand for prepared dishes is freshness, taste, and health. Browsing Xiaohongshu, many young people are trying various prepared dishes from various platforms, but they find it hard to find satisfactory ones, which often troubles these young prepared dish users. Prepared dishes are an inevitable path for food industrialization and urbanization. But at this stage, the popularity of domestic prepared dishes has risen, but subsequent products haven't caught up, and there are many problems to overcome. When people can collectively recall one or two widely trusted brands when mentioning domestic prepared dishes, then domestic prepared dishes may truly enter ordinary households, becoming another lifestyle beyond dining out, takeout, and home cooking. Source: New Consumption Think Tank (ID: cychuangye)