A few days ago, the "macaron" dessert of Shanghai Songjiang enterprise Qiao Yiya Food Co., Ltd. won the "two-star delicious medal" of the combined food issued by the international gastronomic evaluation agency ITI (International Flavor Appraisal Institute) with authentic flavor, and won international honors for the entire Chinese macaron food industry.
This honor is also known as the "Oscar" of the food industry, which means that Qiao Yiya Food can gain a greater advantage in international competition. Li Jianbing, general manager of Shanghai Qiao Yiya Food Co., Ltd., said that it is necessary to persistently make a small round cake to the extreme.
Gain a foothold in the big waves of the market
"This is currently the only medal we have received in the Chinese macaron industry in this event, and it is also the highest star recognition for the combination food category in 2022." Li Jianbing said that as a food enterprise rooted in the G60 science and technology innovation corridor in the Yangtze River Delta, Qiao Yiya has always focused on the industrial production of French dessert macarons. After seven years of tempering, the company has finally achieved its own "sweet business".
As a French dessert, macarons are favored by the market for their colorful colors, fresh and delicate taste and small and exquisite shape. However, many laymen may not be clear that the main raw material of macaron is not flour, but is made of almond flour, egg white, powdered sugar mixture, the cost of raw materials is high, the entire molding process is particularly complicated, a little careless, baked out is rough and dull skin, and even scattered pit scars of defects.
"In 2014, when our company was just established, the entire Chinese macaron industry had not yet formed a precedent for industrial production, mostly handmade by some hotels and bakery shops, but due to the generally low pass rate and other reasons, the market output was very limited and the supply exceeded demand." Li Jianbing said that Qiao Yiya Food, which is interested in participating in international competition, has become one of the earliest macaron companies to enter semi-automated production.
However, the first batch of semi-automated production gave Li Jianbing a "dismount": the pass rate was only 50%. As a result, it is equivalent to about half of the product being scrapped as soon as it comes out. At that time, many people had doubts about Qiao Yiya's production model, in their opinion, "the pass rate of people's handmade production is only 50% or 60%, and it is simply impossible to rely on rigid machines to improve the pass rate." ”
But Li Jianbing did not believe in evil, and organized the technical team to test and tackle the key problems again and again, and finally gradually found out the law. "We found that slight changes in the temperature and humidity of the production environment will have a direct impact on the pass rate of the product, and the raw materials in different seasons will also affect the quality of the product." Li Jianbing said that for example, in the summer eggs, due to the heat, the chickens drink more water, and the moisture content of the eggs produced will be one to two percentage points higher, and it is such a small change that will also greatly affect the macaron's pass rate and output rate. These are things that were not anticipated before.
50%、60%、70%、80%...... Relying on the almost strict and precise control of quality, over the past few years, Qiao Yiya's macaron pass rate has climbed all the way, and it has been stable at about 98%, and the entire domestic macaron industry is almost unparalleled.
Solve the problem of pass rate, the cost of Qiao Yiya macaron is greatly reduced, and it quickly gained a foothold in the market. But another problem ensued. Macarons are "imported products", and the sugar content will be particularly high when produced according to the European formula, and many people will panic when they eat one. "After our research, we found that we must reduce the sugar content in order to win the love of more consumers and occupy a larger domestic market share." Li Jianbing said.
However, reducing sugar content is also not a one-time thing. Qiao Yiya's technical team found that due to the special raw materials of macarons, other biscuit foods can rely on flour as a solid to reduce sugar, but there is no flour in the macaron raw materials, which does not work. In the end, Qiao Yiya's scientific research team can only continue to reduce sugar through innovative improvements in technical processes and in an almost cocoon-peeling manner. At present, Qiao Yiya's macaron production process has been able to reduce the original sugar content of the product by 30% or 40%, that is to say, people who could only eat one piece at a time now have no pressure even if they eat four or five pieces in a row.
"Whether it is to improve the product qualification rate or reduce the sugar content of the product, it is not easy, it is really impossible to describe in words." Li Jianbing said frankly, but it is also the diligent pursuit of craftsmanship and taste that Qiao Yiya has been able to gain a firm foothold and emerge in the big wave of sand and sand market.
In the past 7 years, Qiao Yiya has obtained nearly 20 domestic patents and 5 international patents, including utility model patents, equipment process patents, etc., and has passed the international standard food safety system (FSSC22000) certification and hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) certification.
Launch an impact on the "Oscar" of the gastronomic world
In April 2021, the full-fledged Qiao Yiya launched a charge against the International Delicious Awards.
Founded by the International Taste Institute in Brussels, Belgium, the Superior Taste Award is an annual award for the flavor quality of brands' food and beverages. The International Flavor Jury consists of more than 200 Michelin chefs and connoisseurs from 15 European associations of culinary and sommeliers. The award attracts more than 2,000 kinds of products from top companies in more than 100 countries around the world to participate in the selection every year, and the products with flavor quality that meet or even exceed the expectations of the judges will be awarded medals of the corresponding level and affirmed internationally, which can be called the "Oscar" of the gastronomic industry.
Li Jianbing they quickly received a reply, but unexpectedly, it was a "letter of persuasion.". In the letter, the organizers made it clear that "Chinese enterprises are not recommended to participate in such competitions." Originally, in their view, Chinese food companies have no advantage in participating in the competition, and even some "self-pleading", especially the French dessert of macaron, if Qiao Yiya insists on participating in the competition with a combination of 8 flavors, it must perform well in each one, which can be described as more difficult, and finally may become a "runner", not to mention the star award.
However, Li Jianbing, who is at the helm of the enterprise, does not flinch, and he has confidence in his own macaron. "We chose to stick to the competition, and the samples sent to Brussels were all taken directly from the production line, and we did not deliberately participate in the competition."
In the end, in the process of anonymously accepting the blind test of the judges, Qiao Yiya Macaron withstood the test. In the overall first impression, appearance and feeling, taste and taste, aroma, retrospective sense of smell and other five standard tasting, Qiao Yiya Macaron passed the hurdle, obtained a high score of 88.9, successfully won the two-star award, ushered in another "highlight moment" in the development of the enterprise.
The vigorous development of Qiao Yiya Food is also a vivid microcosm of the development of the fashion consumption industry in Songjiang District. According to the Songjiang District Economic Committee, as a subdivision of the fashion consumer industry, there are a total of 291 food production enterprises in Songjiang District, accounting for about 1/5 of the city's total, and the production volume accounts for about 1/6 of the city, and the economic density and output efficiency of existing high-quality enterprises have steadily improved.
图片来源：被采访企业供图 Source: Author: Li Chengdong Zhu Junhui