Image source: Visual China
Recently, the investigation of Kashi yogurt yeast, which is known as the "Hermes" in the yogurt industry, exceeded the standard by 60 times, which has aroused heated discussion.
On the evening of April 6, the shanghai market supervision bureau announced that Kashi yogurt was investigated and punished for a yogurt "one hour after a meal" yeast exceeding the standard by 60 times.
As soon as the news came out, consumers called out to collapse the house, and a number of topics about Kashi yogurt were on the hot search list, among which the topic about Kashi yogurt, a product yeast exceeding the standard by 60 times, was read by millions of people.
Titanium media APP found that at present, searching for "one hour after meal" yogurt on online platforms such as Tmall shows that related products have been removed.
According to the Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision administration, the number of yeast is an indicative indicator for evaluating the hygienic quality of food, and the main reason for yeast exceeding the standard may be contamination of raw materials for processing or improper control of product storage and transportation conditions.
After the incident, Kashi officials did not issue a statement response, but said in an interview with the media that the yeast exceeded the standard may be caused by the storage and transportation of the factory or the terminal temperature is not up to standard, and stressed that the sample of the batch of products was tested by a third party and met the national standard.
Dairy analyst Song Liang analyzed that yeast exceeding the standard will cause more changes in yogurt quality and taste, and will not cause much harm to the body. However, Dr. Wei Wei, medical director of Dr. Ding Xiang, reminded that exceeding the standard means that there are problems with the quality control or transportation of the production line, and there may be other risks of contamination.
Ambitions to attack the high-end market
Kaas's many of its hot-selling product lines are among the top sellers in their class. According to the Hema APP, the controversial "one hour after meal" product specification is 250g *3 / group, one group is priced at 41.5 yuan, and the unit price of a bottle is 13.8 yuan, while the price of Junlebao Pure Enjoyment 300g is 9.8 yuan, and the two bottles of Yili Chang light and Mengniuguan Yi Milk are added up to 13.8 yuan and 11.8 yuan respectively.
Check out other products of Kashi yogurt, the price of original buttermilk, fresh buttermilk, sugar diary, 007 family dress, etc. is 29.6 yuan, 19.9 yuan, 36.8 yuan and 35.8 yuan respectively.
Behind the higher product pricing is the ambition of Kashi yogurt to attack the high-end market. Since its inception in 1999, Kashi yogurt has chosen Shenzhen's high-end restaurants and night clubs as sales channels, and once became synonymous with Guangdong milk in Guangdong, with a market share of 80% in the local catering market.
In 2003, founder Wang Weijia turned the channel to the shelves of supermarkets, convenience stores, commissaries, and schools around major regions. In 2015, supermarket channels accounted for 50%, becoming the most important channel.
According to the data, in 2021, the sales of Kashi yogurt exceeded 3.2 billion yuan, an increase of 25%. In terms of products, Wang Weijia once declared, "Use the best raw materials to make the world's best yogurt."
In 2012, when Kashi yogurt released the price-leading big single "original buttermilk", Wang Weijia revealed that because of its "Virgo" craftsmanship spirit, the product research and development cycle took three years, and the price of kashi's purchase of fresh milk was the most expensive in the country.
In November 2016, the "one hour after meal" product that was unqualified in this incident was launched, and since then, the pace of new services has accelerated significantly. In 2018, Kashi Yogurt launched "double protein" fermented milk, in June, the new flavor of "chia seed" was launched, and in October of the same year, "YO KEEP yogurt" was released, which mainly focuses on "type management" demand. In 2021, the "Broken Sugar Diary" and "007" family clothes were newly added.
It is worth noting that Wang Weijia, the founder of Kashi yogurt, once announced that he spent a lot of money to build a whole cold chain very early on, "Kashi has established a professional cold chain logistics company from the beginning of its establishment, and each car is a professional refrigerated truck with a refrigerator." ”
Although cold chain logistics has long been built, it is not the first time that the yeast of Kashi yogurt exceeds the standard.
According to reports, Kashi had a similar situation as early as 2015, and the 15-year food sampling information announcement (phase 16) issued by the Guangdong Provincial Food and Drug Administration showed that the kashi-fresh buttermilk (corn fruit grains) of Kashi yogurt was detected to exceed the yeast standard.
At that time, Kashi Yogurt responded by stopping the product production line and conducting a comprehensive inspection of all aspects of the production line and suppliers, and said that the products sampled this time were not their main products, accounting for only a small proportion of their sales.
A battle for the cake in crisis
From 2016 to 2021, Kashi yogurt has launched "YO KEEP yogurt" of "one hour after meal", "double protein" fermented milk, "chia seed", and the main "type management" demand, and in July last year, Kashi yogurt broke the usual concept of focusing on fermented milk, announced its entry into the low-temperature fresh milk business, and announced at this year's national customer annual meeting that the next three years will be the golden time for KAS to lead the development of low-temperature yogurt in the country.
But now, in a hurry to move from a regional brand to a national market, the problem has recurred, and inevitably re-triggered a crisis of rebuilding consumer trust. Moreover, it is still facing more serious challenges such as the competition for the market cake.
From the perspective of the development trend of dairy enterprises, low-temperature yogurt is limited by the development level of cold chain logistics, and it is difficult to expand to third-tier towns and rural areas, so ambient yogurt breaks regional restrictions and realizes universal yogurt consumption has become a new growth point for many dairy enterprises.
The market for high-end low-temperature yogurt has also begun to oversupply. The data shows that the sales share of the whole industry of low-temperature yogurt in 2021 shows a downward trend of 7.6%, and the dividend period of the high-end market is also narrowing.
At the same time, China's high-end low-temperature yogurt market is opening a cake battle.
Due to the high gross profit margin of more than 50% of low-temperature yogurt, on the track of low-temperature yogurt, there are many competitors and cutting-edge brands seizing market share, and they are deeply loved by capital.
Le chun, Uno, Meiji, etc. are mainly low-sugar, healthy yogurt brands, and in recent years, they have attracted the attention of well-known institutions and enterprises such as Sequoia China, IDG Capital, Zhen Fund, and Coca-Cola;
In 2019, Yuanqi Forest, with a valuation of 6 billion US dollars, set up a yogurt brand "Beihai Ranch";
In July 2021, offline yogurt brand Blueglass received a Series B financing of 200 million yuan;
In March this year, "Jane Eyre Yogurt" completed the latest C round of investment, and the Mengniu background of the founder of "Jane Eyre" should not be underestimated.
In 2014, Xia Haitong, a 36-year-old Inner Mongolia boy, took 30 million yuan with the team and established Park Cheng Dairy in Guangzhou. In 2015, Park Cheng Dairy aimed at the high-end market and launched "Jane Eyre Yogurt", and Dehong Capital, QY Capital, Xingzhi Capital, Guangzhou Financial Holdings Fund, Purui Capital and other institutions have bet.
The founder, Xia Haitong, had previously worked in Mengniu for 15 years, all the way from the grassroots level to the general manager of the region, and served as the general manager of Mengniu's low temperature business department for a long time.
In the "618" competition in 2021, Jane Ai's GMV on Tmall, JD.com, and Hema increased by 100% year-on-year, and metro GMV increased by 180% year-on-year.
The dairy giant also turned the muzzle of the gun, threatening. From 2020 to 2021, veteran dairy companies from Mengniu, Yili, Guangming, New Hope and so on have focused on health concepts such as "zero sugar", "zero additives", and probiotics, launched new products of low-temperature yogurt, and even started a "price war". According to the grassroots survey data of Guojin Securities, the discount price of Junlebao Pure Enjoy is about 40% to 30% off, and the promotion of Yili Chang is 50% to 7.5% off.
With strong enemies and cutting-edge brands, Kashi yogurt, which is under the cake battle, has now added the problem of how to regain the trust of consumers, and it may not be easy to continue to gain a foothold in the high-end market in the future.
(Titanium Media Editor Liu Dafang synthesized "Finance and Economics World", Aotou Finance, Xinhua Net, etc.)