Text/Wang Xinxi
The discharge of nuclear sewage from Fukushima in Japan is causing a ripple effect. After China announced a complete moratorium on imports of Japanese seafood, the United States also banned imports of Japanese seafood, and the price of Japanese tuna plummeted 24% overnight. Supermarkets in Japan have also stopped buying Japanese seafood products, and the mentality of some Japanese companies has collapsed: "Why is it that even the citizens are like this?" ”
The Japanese did not eat anymore, and the resistance of the Japanese people in the mood of talking about the change of nuclear pollution also exacerbated domestic tensions. A few days ago, it was also revealed that a well-known Japanese food store in Hangzhou was temporarily closed, and the store urgently changed its name!
According to an industry insider's estimate, according to the current situation, the supply of ingredients is not the key to the problem, the key to the problem is Chinese consumers' confidence in Japanese food, and China's 73,000 Japanese restaurants, more than 80% of which are small and medium-sized restaurants, may close within a tenth of a year.
73,000 Japanese restaurants in China are being affected
With the spread of Japan's sewage into the sea, more and more countries around the world may boycott Japanese seafood and Japanese food, and this increasing boycott will definitely affect more Singaporeans, forming an intuitive resistance to Japanese restaurants or Japanese restaurants.
From the current point of view, this wind direction has shown signs of signs, some practitioners said: because of Japan's nuclear sewage discharged into the sea, the business of Japanese food stores has plummeted, and the Japanese food store that spent 500,000 yuan to renovate is about to face the closure of the store, and 1 million is lost.
A post on Weibo "Will you go to a Japanese food store?" More than 50% of netizens said they would never go again, and Hong Kong Japanese food stores expect that the business volume will fall by 70% in the future.
Of the 73,000 Japanese restaurants in China, many of them are eager to survive, saying that their seafood does not come from Japan. For now, we should be vigilant and avoid Japan's nuclear emissions from affecting the livelihoods of domestic businesses.
It can be seen from the behavior of the Chinese people to grab salt that the people's mentality of following the trend and seeking benefits and avoiding harm is very strong, but this kind of following psychology is likely to make domestic seafood and Japanese food merchants in trouble.
Why are Japanese food stores in China, including Shanghai and other places, full of business these days, this is actually a psychology of early gratification. Many people think that the pollution has not spread so fast now, and the sashimi seafood in the past few days should not be contaminated so quickly. Therefore, go to eat a wave in advance, and eat less or not eat in the future.
Some netizens said that when I go to a Japanese restaurant in the future, I only order wagyu beef and non-seafood, and I don't believe that the clerk told me that it is not from Japan, and I don't eat seafood anyway.
During this time, some Japanese restaurant clerks in Shanghai complained that there were constantly harassing calls during business, such as "will you die if you eat that" or "will you fall down the moment you eat?" and we can no longer deal with it. ”
Therefore, a large number of domestic Japanese food merchants may seek a timely transformation, at least to convince the public that seafood ingredients do not originate from Japan, but from domestic or other countries, otherwise they may fall into a dangerous situation. At present, many Japanese restaurants are full of survival and tell the origin of the raw materials on the signboard.
Someone has calculated that the annual consumption of ingredients in domestic Japanese restaurants far exceeds the amount of imported food from Japan in a year, in fact, more than ninety percent of the seafood used in Japanese restaurants in China is not Japanese, and a large number of merchants have long used domestic aquatic products to replace ingredients imported from Japan and other countries, which is almost an open secret in the industry. But now it's troublesome.
Some netizens said: "The catering industry on the street downstairs of my house may suffer a devastating blow, and one street is making mid-to-high-end Japanese food", "I didn't expect that last night was the last Japanese food, who dares to eat it in the future?" ”
Be wary of bankruptcies and prepare for transformation in advance
In the future, these restaurants will either put up billboards saying that they are using some domestic seafood.
Either change the brand directly and transform into the cuisine of other countries, and then don't do any seafood dishes in the future, and transform into other dishes.
Judging from the current situation, the Japanese themselves are not eating, and the decline in business of domestic Japanese restaurants may be expected. The core reason why Japanese food is so expensive is because they claim that the raw materials come from Japan, the cooking method is not valuable, and the main thing about Japanese food is raw materials.
These more than 70,000 Japanese restaurants, at least more than 30% are mainly Japanese raw materials, according to industry estimates, within a year of one-tenth of the closure, the remaining total business will also decline on a large scale, Japanese restaurants can not run, but also may affect domestic seafood restaurants, which is what we need to be vigilant about.
Although in terms of ingredients, many restaurants can find alternative ingredients. But at present, perhaps the most critical thing is consumer trust, which is the psychological resistance and resistance brought about by Japan's pollution, which is difficult to solve by changing ingredients.
However, when many restaurants that make Japanese cuisine change their menus and change their Chinese restaurants, the original loyal customers may be lost. This will inevitably affect the business and income of a large number of Japanese food merchants, and many restaurants cannot bear it, and it is difficult to avoid the end of bankruptcy.
For this trend, including relevant departments, local governments and businesses themselves, they must respond earlier.
As Hu Xijin said in his current article: China's fishermen and coastal farmers should be helped, public opinion should create maximum conditions for their continued livelihood, domestic quality inspection departments should probably endorse domestic seafood and do a good job of quality testing, and the public may not spread social panic such as "domestic seafood can not be eaten".
For the current situation, seafood and fisheries, including Japanese restaurants, must be prepared in time, and market regulators should establish corresponding strict quality inspection standards to boost everyone's consumer confidence in domestic seafood and minimize the negative effects of Japan's nuclear pollution on various industries.
The domestic food industry and relevant market regulators should be more disclosed in food management, customs testing, and quality inspection, so that everyone can rest assured, after all, for small and medium-sized businesses, if they do not open for three months, they will immediately starve to death. This part of the catering group needs to find a way to save itself. And the domestic catering industry, now must smell the crisis as soon as possible, transform in time, and not become the first wave of cannon fodder for Japan to discharge pollution into the sea.
Author: Wang Xinxi TMT Senior Reviewer This article has not been reprinted