Author: He Danlin (original)
The large and highly competitive Chinese condiment soy sauce market has welcomed a strong new player: Unilever.
Xiaoshidai noticed that the series of activities of "Jiale Tou Fresh Fresh" professional help fresh fragrance rejuvenation was officially launched in Guangzhou in March this year, and landed in Beijing this Monday. It is worth noting that Knorr Tou Fresh is the first soy sauce product launched by Unilever Food Planning, and its selling point and positioning are also very clear - tailor-made for chefs.
"The original intention of our research and development is to solve the chef's cooking pain points around the professional needs of chefs, which should be different in the current condiment market. Zhou Yingjie, the future growth officer of Unilever Food Planning China, told Xiaoshidai in the on-site exchange.
At present, Unilever Food Solutions provides professional condiment and catering solutions for customers such as independent restaurants, large hotels and fast food chains, and its brands include Knorr, Haolemen, etc., and the number of customers directly served in China (note: a customer usually owns multiple restaurants) is about 700,000.
"In the next 1-2 years, we are committed to reaching the level of one million customers. Zhang Haitao, general manager of food nutrition in Unilever North Asia, told Xiaoshidai. Vigorously entering the soy sauce category is undoubtedly an important step for the condiment giant to focus on the Chinese food market and promote the growth of its local business.
Below, Xiaoshidai will take you to pay attention to it.
Enter the professional soy sauce track
Compared with ordinary consumers, restaurant chefs, as "professional players", have many differentiated needs for the selection of soy sauce.
"For example, in terms of temperature, the temperature of the stove in the back of a restaurant is very high, which is not the same as in a home kitchen. In addition, in different dishes and cooking methods, chefs may have different emphases on the need for soy sauce to highlight its aroma, umami or body, which is also more delicate than the requirements of general home cooking. Zhou Yingjie explained to Xiaoshidai.
She said that on the whole, in the selection of condiments, professional chefs will pay more attention to the influence of temperature, the stimulation of the taste of ingredients, the efficient and stable output, and the fine sauce blending. "To this end, our Knorr service staff visits nearly 10,000 chefs every day to form a comprehensive insight report based on the operating environment of the kitchen and the needs of diners in the front room. ”
With the launch of its first soy sauce product, Unilever Food Solutions has co-created with chefs throughout the process to better address their pain points and meet the needs of professionals and diners' taste buds.
"We spent several years working together to create this soy sauce product. Zhang Haitao told Xiaoshidai that this new product has a team of 100 professional chefs from different cuisines from the demand capture to the development and verification, and the Knorr team also visited more than 20 cities across the country and interviewed more than 1,000 chefs from different cuisines to understand the specific needs of chefs for soy sauce in different application scenarios in professional kitchens.
The company said that based on these needs, it has adopted a unique aroma-making process, which is finely pressed and only the first soy sauce is taken to ensure that the Knorr first soy sauce is freshly brewed and freshly brewed soy sauce "in the cooking process and in the product".
"If you look at the number of soy sauces in each customer's kitchen, there are basically about 4-8 kinds of soy sauce, which are suitable for different scenarios. Our head drawer has a good match with the dish in many scenarios, which can give the chef a professional choice. Zhang Haitao said.
This newcomer to the soy sauce field is quite confident in its "sauce performance". "We not only cooperate with the China Food and Fermentation Industry Research Institute, but also have the support of our Dutch R&D center to make new explorations in soy sauce fermentation. So, I think we are at the right time and have the right strength to enter the soy sauce track. Zhou Yingjie said.
"Do what you do best"
Behind this is Unilever Food Solutions' latest insight into Chinese food and beverage trends.
Xiaoshidai introduced that recently, Unilever Food Planning released the "2024 Future "Food" Fashion Report at the Dutch headquarters. According to the forward-looking trend report, the four most relevant trends in China's catering market are: the emergence of local forces, the popular interpretation of traditional dishes, the bold breakthrough of flavors, and the healing cuisine.
"The inspiration for this [trend report] actually came from the practice of the Chinese team. As early as 2012, Unilever Food Solutions began to continuously analyze the dining out behavior of thousands of diners in the Chinese market every quarter, so as to provide industry insights for F&B practitioners, Zhang said.
Clearly, the company's foray into the soy sauce track is also the company's latest move to cater to the forward-looking trend of "the emergence of local power".
"Especially driven by the 'national tide craze' and 'local cultural confidence', Chinese consumers are paying more and more attention to the presentation of local culture and flavor. Unilever Food Planning said that when it comes to the taste of Chinese food, fermented flavor is an indispensable part of it, and soy sauce is one of the most widely used fermented condiments, which also conjures up the flavor diversity of many types of food.
At the same time, the company pointed out that under the new consumption cycle, Chinese consumers are becoming more and more rational, and they pay more attention to the "functional value" of products or services, which is reflected in the catering field, which is a return to the pursuit of taste, rather than just the pursuit of superficial form.
In addition to co-creating soy sauces that meet the functional value of taste with chefs, Unilever Food Solutions will also provide more recipe innovation inspiration around products. Zhou Yingjie said that in this regard, the company will do a lot of work on "popular interpretations of traditional dishes", and will pay more attention to the implementation of soy sauce application scenarios in the future to provide more high-quality overall solutions.
Zhang Haitao, General Manager of Food Nutrition, Unilever North Asia
"What we do best is to anticipate taste [through trend research], create taste (through a team of chef consultants and professional R&D teams), restore taste [in a variety of dining environments], and empower chefs to support them in all aspects. This is our philosophy in the catering business in China, and it is also our core competitiveness in the field of soy sauce. Zhang Haitao said.
Future power point
At present, in China, the world's largest single market, the condiment giant is enjoying good growth momentum.
"In 2023, we achieved double-digit growth in the Chinese market that far exceeded the industry average. Zhang Haitao said that this achievement is inseparable from the precipitation and accumulation in the past few years, including taking the lead in sending masks and hand sanitizer to customers during the epidemic to support their orderly development, and using big data terminals, so that the number of customers directly served by the sales team has increased by 4 times when the number of sales team is generally stable.
In addition, Xiaoshidai once introduced that Unilever built the world's first lighthouse factory in the condiment industry in the Chinese market last year, and realized operational automation and intelligent decision-making in all aspects of sales demand, planning and scheduling, material procurement and intelligent manufacturing.
"I think the China team is the best team in the world," said Chen Yixing, global CEO of Unilever Food, who not only provides Unilever's best products, but also provides the highest value-added solutions for customers and diners.
In order to drive growth in 2024, this "strongest team" is now focusing on three key words: focus, breakthrough, and determination.
"Entering 2024, the entire competitive environment is very involuted. For us, the first thing is to focus on the Chinese food market, continue to increase investment, improve the speed of response to changes, and consolidate our positioning as a 'solution provider'. Zhang Haitao said to Xiaoshidai.
Second, he pointed out that it is necessary to bravely make breakthroughs in product categories and service models, and accelerate the exploration of new areas on the basis of improving business resilience and stabilizing business fundamentals. Third, maintain strategic focus, adhere to long-termism, adhere to the gene of growing together with customers, and provide warm products and services.
Zhou Yingjie, Future Growth Officer of Unilever Food Planning China
When asked about the plan for category breakthrough, Zhou Yingjie told Xiaoshidai that the company's product strategy is based on market trends and changes in kitchen needs, constantly realizing taste upgrades and innovations, while taking into account the efficiency improvement of the kitchen. "In the future, we will also explore new opportunities in more basic and innovative categories based on these directions. ”
In addition, it can be expected that Unilever Food Solutions, which has launched its first soy sauce around fermented flavors, will have more product innovations. "Fermentation is a new area that we have started to explore and still has a long way to go. Soy sauce is just the first step we take. She said.
In the process of continuing to increase local flavors, one obvious challenge is that due to the rich and diverse food culture of Chinese cuisine and the many distinct cuisines, chefs' needs for condiments are diverse and complex – how can Unilever Food Solutions balance better meeting regional flavor needs and reducing the complexity of portfolio management?
"Chinese food itself has a lot of basic flavors, and no matter which cuisine needs basic seasoning, many of Knorr's products (such as chicken powder, chicken essence, soy sauce and other basic flavors) can serve professional chefs in different regions and consolidate the bottom line. Zhou Yingjie told Xiaoshidai, "For the flavor types with strong regional characteristics, on the one hand, we have products that can directly meet some characteristic flavor types, and on the other hand, we can also combine local ingredients to collide with local characteristics and meet local diners." ”
Xiaoshidai noticed that in the series of activities of Jiale Tou Fresh Fresh, the brand demonstrated the diversified application solutions of new soy sauce products in Guangdong, Hunan, Beijing, Shandong and other major cuisines. "In the future, we will also discuss the trend of renewing and upgrading cuisines with chefs from more cuisines in more regions to promote the sustainable development of multiple cuisines of Chinese cuisine. Zhou Yingjie said.