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Why are all the Chinese shopping malls full of pre-prepared meals?

Pre-prepared meals are the “time bomb” of the contemporary Internet, and people will argue about them every once in a while.

The news that “prepared meals entered schools” made parents panic, worrying that preprepared meals would ruin the health of the next generation of children. Some even went so far as to directly call preprepared meals “human feed.”

But in fact, outside the campus, the streets and alleys have long been “occupied” by pre-prepared meals.

Whether you order takeout at home or go out for a meal, from the hundreds of yuan pork belly and chicken hot pot to the few yuan small bowl vegetable set meal, the store may heat up the food in a cooking bag. Some more “high-tech” pre-prepared dishes can also disguise the smell of wok by adding wok flavor essence, which can be said to be hard to guard against.

Why are pre-prepared meals so annoying? Is eating pre-prepared meals really our fate?

Unpalatable is the “original sin” of pre-prepared food

The so-called pre-prepared meals actually cover a very wide range. According to the degree of cooking, they can be divided into four types: ready-to-prepare foods, ready-to-cook foods, ready-to-heat foods, and ready-to-eat foods[1].

In a broad sense, pre-prepared meals have long existed on the Chinese table. From instant noodles and eight-treasure porridge stored at home to fast food burgers and beef hot pot seasonings eaten out, they can all be considered pre-prepared meals.

Nowadays, the pre-prepared meals that people often clamor for are usually the endless stream of Chinese meal packages. Whether you order Kung Pao Chicken, Fish-flavored Shredded Pork, Big Plate Chicken, or Braised Pork, simply heating it up and pairing it with some rice and vegetables will make it a proper Chinese meal.

People have conflicting opinions about such pre-prepared meals.

We counted the original Weibo posts about pre-prepared meals on Sina Weibo and found that pre-prepared meals have quite a few fans.

In their eyes, the benefits of pre-prepared meals are obvious: stable taste, convenient and fast, and conducive to the transformation and development of the entire catering industry. Moreover, the food prepared uniformly in factories or central kitchens is likely to be cleaner and more hygienic than the canteens of varying quality in various places.

But there is more disgust and fear of pre-prepared meals. Many people are worried about the proliferation of pre-prepared meals, not to mention serving pre-prepared meals to children’s tables.

Among them, what people complained about the most were the safety risks and taste of pre-prepared meals.

Unlike freshly cooked meals, pre-prepared meals are not only not fresh and nutritious, but may also contain too many additives and preservatives in order to maintain the taste and long shelf life.

Theoretically, pre-prepared meals do not necessarily have these problems. For example, with the development of food science, many pre-prepared meals do not need to use preservatives and can be preserved for a long time through aseptic production, vacuum packaging, cold chain transportation, etc.

But this cannot dispel people’s concerns about inadequate supervision and lack of transparency in information.

According to the relevant department head of the Ministry of Education, there is currently no unified standard system, certification system, traceability system or other effective regulatory mechanism for pre-prepared meals[3]. Parents are also worried that unregulated pre-prepared meals will enter campuses, creating new risks:

I am afraid that these pre-prepared meals with no lower limit will enter the campus. I paid for normal pre-prepared meals, but what the students said were pre-prepared meals that were below the lower limit. This is not panic, but actual concern.

Fake meat has been found in restaurants that we usually visit, and rat heads have appeared in canteens. If food is prepared uniformly by factories that are invisible to people, how can the hygiene and safety of the production process be guaranteed?

Many people are fed up with the taste of pre-prepared meals and regard the unpalatable taste as the “original sin” of pre-prepared meals.

Many pre-prepared dishes may look like they have everything they need, but they are no match for freshly stir-fried dishes, which are cooked at high temperatures, causing the amino acids and reducing sugars in the ingredients to undergo a Maillard reaction, producing an indescribable yet fascinating wok aroma.

So when we eat pre-prepared meals, we feel like something is not right and we can’t find the familiar taste.

Furthermore, pre-prepared meals may indeed have the problem of being nutritionally monotonous and high in fat and salt. After all, you never know whether a pot of milky white and shiny pork belly and chicken soup in a restaurant contains milk powder or non-dairy creamer.

The food you eat,

Maybe a 5 yuan pre-made meal

However, whether people love it or hate it, it is difficult to avoid pre-prepared meals in life.

According to the “2022 China Chain Catering Industry Report” released by the China Chain Store Association, the proportion of pre-prepared food of some leading fast food companies is close to 100%, such as chain brands Zhen Gongfu and Yoshinoya, while the proportion of pre-prepared meals of Xibei Youmiancun and Xiao Nan Guo has also reached more than 85%.

In addition, the association estimates that more than 85% of the current sales channels for pre-prepared meals are concentrated on the B-end, that is, sold to businesses rather than ordinary consumers.

In 2020, 68.3% of chain restaurant brands with more than ten stores nationwide were already using central kitchens. Among takeaway merchants, about 70% were using meal kits.

So, which dishes are the most affected by pre-prepared meals?

We looked through the 1688 wholesale purchasing website that some merchants use and found that among the product names with the word “pre-prepared dishes”, rice with toppings appeared most frequently, and small bowls of dishes that are often seen when ordering takeout also appeared on the list. Through product reviews, we learned that many of these cooking packs are purchased by takeout merchants.

In addition, other common pre-made dishes are “high-end” dishes such as Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, abalone, and sea cucumber. Buy these cooking packs and simply heat them up to make a big meal.

There are also sauerkraut fish, hot pot, and Hunan cuisine that can be found everywhere in the streets and alleys. There are also a large number of corresponding pre-prepared meals for sale. It is the “main arena” for pre-prepared meal manufacturers.

This explains to a certain extent why we always eat exactly the same taste when we go to different restaurants. It may be that the merchants wholesale from similar channels.

Therefore, some smart consumers simply secretly observe what goods the restaurant purchases, and then buy the same ones online.

On Xiaohongshu, someone summarized which store’s fennel fried dough sticks and which brand of crispy pork are used by Haidilao.

In addition to the similar taste, many businesses are often criticized for their prices.

We counted the prices of pre-prepared meals on 1688 Wholesale Procurement website. More than one-third of the wholesale unit price of pre-prepared meals does not exceed 10 yuan, and about half of the unit price of meal packages is less than 20 yuan.

For example, a prepared rice bowl dish that is popular among small takeout restaurants may cost more than ten or twenty yuan per serving, but the wholesale price is only five yuan.

Such prices do benefit merchants, but make consumers feel like they are being taken advantage of.

Many restaurants don’t tell customers in advance that they use pre-prepared meals. It’s hard not to feel bad when customers spend nearly $100 to eat out, only to end up eating a meal that can be purchased online for $10.

Pre-prepared meals are bound to take over the market

But no matter what, what we can be sure of is that whether we like it or not, pre-prepared meals will be an inevitable trend.

The reason is that pre-prepared meals are so convenient and cost-effective.

The operating costs of catering companies are mainly composed of labor costs, raw material costs, rent costs, energy costs and related taxes. Needless to say, rent and labor costs are high. According to the 2019 China Catering Industry Annual Report, the cost of raw material purchases alone can account for nearly 40% of the turnover of catering stores.

Pre-prepared meals can help restaurants reduce the need for hiring chefs, the need for large kitchens, and the purchase of various raw ingredients.

Taking a bowl of braised pork rice takeout as an example, pre-prepared meals are the “magic” for reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

According to estimates by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association, for a takeaway serving of braised pork rice priced at RMB 17.5, if the chef prepares it on site, the net profit is only 50 cents, but if a meal package is used, the net profit can reach RMB 3, a five-fold increase.

Furthermore, since a lot of cooking time is saved, the serving time of a meal can be reduced from 17 minutes to 5 minutes, and the waiting time for customers is shortened from 40 minutes to 28 minutes.

The profit is high, the speed is fast, and less space and manpower are required. Any novice cook can become a “kitchen god” with the help of the cooking package. How can the store resist such temptations?

At the same time, the catering industry is an industry with a high elimination rate and extremely fierce competition. Reducing costs and increasing efficiency is undoubtedly attractive to catering practitioners. Moreover, if other restaurants are using it, their insistence on freshly cooked dishes may not be able to be converted into actual profits.

Chain brands, in particular, use central kitchens to prepare pre-prepared meals, which, on the one hand, can achieve standardized tastes, and on the other hand can increase profits, further grow bigger and stronger, and squeeze out the living space of small restaurants.

In recent years, the chain rate of Chinese restaurants has been on an upward trend. Although not as high as in developed countries such as Japan and the United States, the development speed is rapid.

Especially in large shopping malls, many restaurants are chain brands that are able to equip central kitchens. In addition, many shopping malls do not allow the use of open flames or gas stoves for cooking due to fire regulations.

This means that pre-prepared meals are about to take over all shopping malls in China. When we go to a mall and spend tens or hundreds of dollars on a meal, nine out of ten times what we eat is pre-prepared meals.

In the future, under the temptation of reducing costs and increasing efficiency, it is foreseeable that more and more businesses will move towards scale and chain operations. It has almost become the fate of modern people to encounter pre-prepared dishes when eating out.

Under this unstoppable wave, consumers naturally miss the original appearance of catering.

As a classic line in the movie “Mature Woman” says, “If you don’t take your meals seriously, you don’t take your life seriously.” No matter how efficient and convenient pre-prepared meals are, they, like the “white people’s meal” that only seeks to prolong life quickly, have shaken our views on “eating.”

It makes the people behind the food less important, and enjoying food is no longer a connection between chefs and diners, but a completely industrialized assembly line process. Even the most important thing in a restaurant, the food, is no longer so important, and the service, environment and exquisite plating are more important.

Perhaps, by then, even going to a restaurant to eat may become unnecessary. If you want to eat something from a restaurant, just buy the corresponding meal kit. Since pre-prepared meal companies can deliver food to restaurants, why can’t they deliver it directly to my home?

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