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Once upon a time, it was so desirable to buy a hot, fragrant boxed lunch in the dining car while traveling on the green train. At that time, trains were long and the journey was long, and a delicious train meal was undoubtedly the best travel companion.
Dressed in crisp blue uniforms, the attendants on board the bus push small food trucks that are light and convenient, shuttling up and down the aisles, enthusiastically selling freshly baked and delicious bentos to passengers.
Surprisingly, even on trains packed with thousands of passengers, the dozen or so bento boxes are often sold out. Behind this phenomenon, there is a tortuous process of train lunch from prosperity to decline.
Let's trace the bits and pieces of this past together, and appreciate the development turning points and reasons for the changes.
It was an era of train technology innovation, and the catering service on the train also ushered in an all-round, large-scale, and deeply rooted upgrade. In order to satisfy the cravings of passengers to enjoy food during the long train journey, each train is equipped with special catering cars.
The chefs on the railroad prepare a variety of dishes in advance and carefully pack them into pre-made iron lunch boxes. When it's time for sale, the amiable attendants in blue uniforms push small food trucks back and forth from carriage to carriage, enthusiastically promoting and selling these freshly baked, steaming bento boxes to each passenger.
Recalling that grand occasion, Wang Qingjiu, the first captain of the dining car, still remembers the scene of that year, and he said with great emotion: "At that time, selling boxed lunches was not an easy job! During the festive holidays, the carriage was suddenly full of people, and there were passengers queuing up to buy boxed lunches, and the crowded scene was as crowded as stuffing sardines into canned food.
Although it may seem daunting in retrospect, the scene is also unforgettable.
It is worth mentioning that the price of these lunch boxes sold on trains in the 80s was so affordable that it could almost be said that they were operated at zero profit. But even so, passengers from all over the world are not less enthusiastic about eating on the train.
The reason is that, despite the low price, these bento boxes can fully meet the needs and expectations of passengers' taste buds. In contrast, although there are some small vendors selling local snacks around the station, more passengers are still more willing to buy the boxed lunches on the bus.
The reason for this lies in the classic delicacies that are etched in the memories of passengers. In the 80s, the chefs on the train were all first-class chefs invited from famous restaurants, and they were experienced and skilled, and they were tested in the field.
Not only do these masters ensure that they have enough food on the train, but they also save a lot of their own food stamps. Therefore, they chose to do their best on the train, so that the standard of the train restaurant at that time could even be comparable to the famous local second-class restaurant.
Among them, the most representative is the classic "pork skin frozen rice" that has made countless people have endless memories. It's a deceptively simple dish – juicy pork rind jelly is paired with refreshing vegetables and rice.
As a common inn signature dish on the train journey 40 years ago, its price is very affordable, only two cents and five can enjoy such deliciousness, no wonder it became the biggest salivation in the train lunch that year.
Unfortunately, the heyday of train catering did not last there. In the late '90s, the field underwent a seismic shift from the railroad sector to outsourcing to third-party vendors.
In order to obtain higher profits, many outsourcers have begun to cut corners and cut corners in the selection and cooking process. For example, they began to purchase large quantities of defective ingredients with low prices and short shelf life, and used these low-quality ingredients to make lunch boxes.
What's more, they simply buy ready-made semi-finished food, repackage it and sell it to passengers to earn the difference.
Although the price is still expensive, this hasty approach undoubtedly greatly reduces the freshness and nutritional value of the lunch box. Many passengers pay a high price to satisfy their hunger, but only get a mediocre boxed lunch, which naturally leads to strong disappointment and disgust.
The originally desirable train lunch box has plummeted in taste and hygiene under the erosion of these shoddy methods. It only takes one poor shopping experience to attract passengers again.
Seeing that the business opportunities are gradually drifting away, some outsourcers simply began to implement "dynamic adjustments" to the selling price: 30 yuan per copy in the first round of sales, and when the sales volume is sluggish, the second round of price will drop to 20 yuan, followed by 10 yuan... And so on until the entire inventory is sold out.
This kind of behavior is undoubtedly a blatant deception and deception of consumers.
Such a "gray marketing" style, coupled with high-quality and high-price food, soon made the majority of consumers lose the last trace of confidence in train catering. Many travelers, after experiencing one disappointment, will never try to buy a boxed lunch on the train again.
In the face of such a passive situation, the train catering industry is also constantly making attempts to reform and innovate. At present, the mainstream practice is to set up multiple train catering service points in and around the station, and attract more well-known chain catering brands to settle in.
But there is still a long way to go to completely regain consumer trust.
With the advent of the era of high-speed rail, people's travel efficiency has been greatly improved. What used to take a long journey can now take just a few hours to reach your destination.
For example, from Shanghai to Beijing, it only takes more than 4 hours to reach the station by high-speed rail, which is completely beyond people's imagination.
In the context of such a fast high-speed rail, people's demand for train lunch boxes has also weakened significantly. After all, the journey time is greatly shortened, and you only need to be patient for a while on the train, and you will soon be able to solve the problem of food and clothing after arriving at the station.
In addition, there is a wide variety of food around the station, and the cost performance is higher than that of the boxed lunch on the train, so passengers are more willing to choose their favorite delicacies near their destination.
In addition, many passengers have also begun to take the initiative to prepare food for the journey, bringing some convenient dry food, bread, fruit and drinks, etc., which can fully support the needs of short-distance train travel, once again weakening the demand for train lunches.
An office worker who often travels by train shared his experience: "Yes, why do I need to buy a boxed lunch on the train now? Every time I go out, I will prepare dry food in advance, including instant noodles, snacks, fruits, etc., which can cope with the four-hour journey of the high-speed train."
Even if you are hungry, there are so many delicious options around the station after getting off the train that you don't need to buy those high-quality boxed lunches on the bus.
Today, the dilemma faced by the train lunch box is becoming more and more severe. First of all, the crowded dining environment in the train carriage is hard to swallow.
Imagine hundreds or thousands of passengers crammed into cramped carriages, and the aisles are clogged with crowds.
To make matters worse, high-speed rail trains are closed while in motion, and windows cannot be opened for ventilation. As a result, all kinds of peculiar smells are mixed together in the carriage, forming a strange and pungent smell, which is deterrent to smell, let alone eating, but I am afraid that I will lose my appetite.
But even if you make up your mind and plan to eat on the train, you are faced with a box lunch with an inflated price and a mediocre taste, and it is difficult to get a satisfactory consumer experience.
An ordinary hot box lunch is often priced at 20 yuan to 80 yuan, which is too expensive for ordinary travelers.
What's even more infuriating is that the prices of other goods sold on the train, such as instant noodles and dry food, are also much higher than those in the outside market. A passenger said helplessly: "I bought a 30 yuan train lunch and a 6 yuan bottle of mineral water to quench my thirst, but I only ate a fast food with an average taste for so much money, and I will never buy a box lunch on the train again."
Faced with such high prices, most travelers would rather buy some of their favorite convenience food on the platform before the train starts. Some people will even make some advanced preparations, such as packing a roast chicken, a few steamed buns and a bottle of wine, for them, this is a high-quality "train meal", which is much more affordable than a high-quality train lunch.