Source of this article: Times Finance Author: Zhang Xuemei
Since the 80s of the last century, domestic dairy enterprises began to produce cheese on a small scale, and decades have passed, consumers have higher and higher requirements for dairy nutrition, health, taste, etc., and the domestic dairy industry has also experienced a consumption upgrade from flavored milk beverage milk, to liquid fresh milk, yogurt, and then to cheese.
The data shows that in 2020, the per capita consumption of cheese in mainland China will only be 0.28kg, which is far lower than that of European and American countries with a long history of cheese, and there is also a large gap between Japan and South Korea, which have similar eating habits. The Agricultural Information Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences predicts that the per capita consumption of cheese in mainland China is expected to exceed 2kg in the long run, which is about 10 times the growth space of the current one.
In this context, Yili, Guangming, Miaokelando, Bajifu, Dr. Cheese and other enterprises have entered the game, and under the healthy competition, the industry standards are becoming more and more perfect. On April 20, the 2024 (3rd) China Children's Nutrition, Health and Food Education Summit Forum (hereinafter referred to as the "Summit Forum") hosted by the China Non-staple Food Distribution Association was held in Beijing, and the group standard of "Children's Cheese and Children's Processed Cheese" was released.
The group logo was guided by the China Non-staple Food Circulation Association, and the cheese brand "Dr. Cheese" participated in the drafting. This is not the first time Dr. Cheese has worked to improve industry standards. In 2021, it launched a cheese stick product with 55% cheese, much higher than the 15% of similar products on the market at that time, leading the market with a high proportion of cheese sticks.
At the scene of this summit forum, based on the insight into the needs and life scenarios of different groups of Chinese children, teenagers, and family users, Chen Yuhua, founder and CEO of Dr. Cheese, also released a new brand upgrade plan, positioning "high-calcium food, choose Dr. Cheese", and officially announced that Chen Nan, the former captain of the Chinese women's national basketball team, was the brand's best friend & high-calcium recommendation officer, and launched the "Little Doctor" children's high-calcium food series, and released more than ten new products at the same time.
Leading the industry standard and capturing the children's market segment
According to the data of the joint research industry consulting, the size of China's children's snack market will increase from 114.228 billion yuan in 2019 to 144.570 billion yuan in 2021, and the scale of China's children's snack market will reach 187.883 billion yuan in 2023.
Rich in high-quality protein, calcium, and other vitamins and minerals, children's cheese is a golden addition to children's snacks. According to Kantar Worldpanel, children's cheese snacks account for about 50% of the cheese retail market share, making it one of the fastest-growing segments in recent years. However, the children's cheese market also has problems such as serious product homogeneity and lack of special children's cheese standards.
In 2019, Dr. Cheese was founded and became a catfish in the cheese industry.
The following year after its establishment, it set its sights on the hottest and most homogeneous product - cheese sticks. In order to distance himself from other products, Dr. Cheese developed and launched cheese sticks with 55% cheese in 2021, and continuously launched platinum cheese sticks and feta cheese sticks with 66% cheese content, which is a leap forward in quality compared with most products on the market that account for 15%. The market also gave positive feedback, and the total online omni-channel sales exceeded 100 million yuan during the "Double 11" period in 2021.
Chen Yuhua said that after Dr. Cheese's high proportion of cheese sticks entered the market, peer brands followed suit, which also promoted the early release of the new national standard to a certain extent. On December 30, 2022, the newly revised National Food Safety Standard for Processed Cheese and Cheese Products was implemented. According to the new national standard, the cheese proportion requirement for "processed cheese" has been adjusted from more than 15% to more than 50%, and the cheese proportion between 15% and 50% is called "cheese products".
On the basis of the 2022 national standard, the new group standard for the children's cheese industry has carried out stricter requirements in terms of core content such as food ingredient selection, physical and chemical, microorganism, contaminant indicators, and the use of food additives and food nutrition fortifiers, such as children's processed cheese requires the proportion of cheese to be ≥ 55%, without additional water dilution, and two or more nutritional fortifiers such as vitamin D must be added.
Li Yan, an associate professor at the School of Food and Health at Beijing Technology and Business University, said that the formulation of the group standard has been discussed repeatedly, especially the specific proportion of cheese standards, "In the end, we still feel that there should be higher requirements for children's cheese." ”
Brand upgrade and strengthen high-calcium positioning
According to Chen Yuming, a professor of nutritional epidemiology at the School of Public Health of Sun Yat-sen University, calcium has a variety of physiological functions, not only as the main component of bones and teeth, but also as a regulator of neuromuscular excitability, blood vessel contraction and relaxation, and participate in the release of a variety of hormones and neurotransmitters, in vivo signaling, coagulation processes, etc.
However, according to the Report on the Status of Nutrition and Chronic Diseases in China (2020), the daily calcium intake of adults aged 18 to 59 in mainland China is 328.3 mg, while the recommended amount for adults is 800 mg per day, which is only 41% of the recommended amount. In Europe and the United States, the per capita daily dietary calcium intake can reach 700~900 mg, and in Asia, the average level in Japan and South Korea is about 500~600 mg.
Due to study, work and other reasons, it is difficult for many people to achieve a glass of milk a day and a balanced meal, so a small piece of cheese is undoubtedly a good means to supplement calcium.
According to China Customs statistics, China imported a total of 178,200 tons of cheese in 2023, an increase of 22.5% year-on-year, and the average price was US$5,431/ton, an increase of 2.8% year-on-year. Euromonitor data shows that the national cheese retail market will be 11.134 billion yuan in 2023, with a compound growth rate of 12.34% in the past five years, and the industry has great potential.
At the same time, this track is also surrounded by strong opponents, with players such as Miaokelando, Bajifu, Yili, and Guangming staking their ground. How to break out of the encirclement of cutting-edge brands, Dr. Cheese's business model may be worth studying.
At the beginning of its establishment, Dr. Cheese established a differentiated brand strategy. In May 2020, Dr. Cheese's first product "Small Round Cheese" was launched, which is different from the popular processed cheese on the market, "Small Round Cheese" is an original cheese with richer calcium, protein and other nutritional values.
A consumer said that he came into contact with Xiaoyuan cheese was sent by a friend for calcium supplementation after the child's accidental fracture, and he was not used to eating it at first, but later found that the child liked it very much after adding it to porridge and other supplementary foods. After discovering this convenient way to supplement calcium, she also became a fan of Dr. Cheese. In the year of the release of Xiaoyuan Cheese, Dr. Cheese won the "Top 10 New Brands of Tmall Food in 2020".
From 2020 to 2022, it won 3 rounds of financing, including Sequoia China Seed Fund and Today Capital.
It is worth mentioning that the cheese market is a very competitive field with few market segments, and as a pioneer in the segmentation of the high-calcium market, Dr. Cheese has made remarkable achievements in this field. According to Kantar data, from 2021 to 2023, Dr. Cheese ranked first in the mid-to-high-end cheese market in terms of sales for 3 consecutive years.
At this summit forum, Dr. Cheese announced a brand upgrade, further clarifying the positioning of "Dr. Cheese for high-calcium food".
After 4 years of development, based on the original products and new products, Dr. Cheese has divided its products into four series: ready-to-eat cheese series, including the original product line of small round cheese, fresh cheese, cheese sticks, small square cheese, etc., table cheese series, including cheese slices, grated cheese, spread cheese sauce, etc., the new "Little Doctor" children's high-calcium food series, including biscuit puffed food, staple and supplementary food, dairy products, meat products, nutritional products, etc., a total of 5 categories, and professional catering series.
In line with the new brand upgrade, Dr. Cheese has simultaneously launched more than 10 new products such as high-calcium cheese steamed buns and high-calcium cheese children's nutritious noodles, and Dr. Cheese's "Little Doctor" children's high-calcium food series has also reached 17 products.
"This is a product developed by us based on JD.com's user data, after analyzing the diet of babies and children and their favorite snack products, using the core raw material technology we have mastered, combined with the brand's high calcium standards. Chen Yuhua said.
R&D is pre-positioned to maintain the fastest new speed in the industry
For cutting-edge brands, maintaining a fast speed of launching new products is one of the core competitiveness, which is behind the embodiment of the company's R&D and market insight capabilities. According to Chen Yuhua, including the new products of the "Little Doctor" children's high-calcium food series released this time, Dr. Cheese plans to launch more than 20 new products in 2024.
The product R&D department is an important department of Dr. Cheese, "within the company, other departments have a limit on the number of people, but the product R&D department does not, as long as it is an excellent talent is recruited, the average age of our quality team in the industry is more than 15 years." ”
Since the launch of Round Cheese in 2020, Dr. Cheese has tried to develop more innovative products, and half a year after the first product came out, Dr. Cheese has a new product on the market almost every month, although some of these products have been subsequently cut, but the continuous promotion of new products has also accumulated valuable trial and error experience for Dr. Cheese, "As far as I know, our new speed is the fastest in the industry." Chen Yuhua said.
With the maturity of the product line, Dr. Cheese has also increased its brand promotion efforts. On April 20, it was officially announced that Chen Nan, the former captain of the Chinese women's national basketball team, was the brand's best friend & high-calcium recommendation officer. At the same time, in order to better record children's growth curves and experience activities, Dr. Cheese will cooperate with Chen Nan to launch a high-high-high program.
Brand marketing expert Lu Shengzhen analyzed that Chen Nan can personally help Dr. Cheese interpret his brand positioning attributes and make the attributes of high calcium explicit, "Chen Nan's height of 197cm and strong and flexible sports style are very recognizable, which can transmit the differentiated attributes of Dr. Cheese's products at the fastest speed, so that Dr. Cheese will greatly shorten the professionalism and marketing cycle of the product." ”
In addition, in November 2022, Dr. Cheese's first factory was inaugurated in Chuzhou, Anhui Province, which is a cheese factory where both raw and processed cheese can be produced in a unified manner. In October 2023, the production line of Dr. Cheese's first marketed version of "Xiaofang Cheese" will be put into operation, which also provides a stronger guarantee for the development of Dr. Cheese.