The progress bar of 2024 has passed halfway, and there have been many unexpected situations in the food and industry: consumption has declined, some companies' revenue and profits have been cut in half, and some companies have barely maintained their fundamentals......
At the same time, changes in the new environment and the emergence of new needs are gradually changing the food industry in 2024, giving birth to some new trends.
As the pillar of the economy, the food industry has a large number of brand enterprises and practitioners, and the new trend will have a great impact.
In this issue, First Food Information visited Master Shen Food Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Master Shen") to discuss the reform and innovation of subdivided categories with Mr. Shen Qiang, Chairman and General Manager.
What about revenue in the first half of the year?
When asked this question, Shen Qiang did not shy away from it, but told us very calmly: "From January to May, we did not meet the expected target of revenue and profit growth, and our sales decreased year-on-year. However, because the price is well controlled, the quality of the product is very stable, and the old customers are also very stable, the last calculation found that our profit is not bad, and it has increased many times. ”
In fact, at the beginning of the year, when Master Shen's sales declined, "we analyzed the reasons in time, mainly because the order volume of large customers declined." Shen Qiang analyzed the reason for us.
Shen Qiang (left) is being interviewed by First Food Information
There are reasons for special nodes, product structure, customer business decline, and even low-priced products disrupting the market. To this end, Master Shen also conducted research on customers and the market at the first time, and adjusted and iterated the product according to the needs of customers.
For example, with the increase in the rate of restaurant chains in China, these chain restaurant brands have a high demand for ingredients and dishes. Although the catering is very volatile now, from another level, it also creates a better environment for the emergence and application of new products. Chef Shen has tailored new products to meet these needs of catering.
When the product is differentiated enough, the company can control the pricing power of the product, and profits will follow.
On the one hand, Master Shen provides customers with better and more suitable products and policies; On the other hand, Master Shen also empowers and trains the customer's salesmen to help them develop outlets. Through a series of operations, Master Shen quickly stabilized the basic plate.
Respond quickly according to market conditions, which is an important reason why Master Shen was able to achieve profit growth. It also reflects the rapid adaptability and efficient execution ability of Master Shen's team, but the product strength of the egg jerky itself also plays a great role.
Master Shen's dried eggs 100g product
Up to now, the cumulative sales of Master Shen's 100 grams and 150 grams of dried eggs have approached 3 billion. In addition, Master Shen also has more personalized customized products, as well as casual attributes and pre-made dish type products.
It can be seen that the dried egg product or this category has a good life cycle, and it can develop for a long time.
When it comes to growth in 2024 and beyond, Shen Qiang revealed to us. Master Shen currently has three major businesses, one is the key account department, which mainly serves dealers, chain catering brands, etc.; Then there are the two parts of traditional e-commerce and content e-commerce.
Correspondingly, Master Shen's dried egg series products are suitable for multiple consumption scenarios, and currently mainly lay out four major tracks: catering, leisure, fresh food, and prefabricated dishes.
Master Shen's dried eggs have a variety of application scenarios
Taking the catering side as an example, Master Shen's dried eggs as shabu dishes have successively settled in national chain catering brands such as Haidilao and Yang Guofu, among which Haidilao's dried eggs are quite popular with consumers.
In addition, Chef Shen also cooperated with Chinese fast food such as Lao Xiang Chicken, Village Base, and Mr. Rice with dried egg stir-fried dishes, and fried pork and egg jerky with Lao Xiang Chicken as an innovative dish, which became a hit in the store. In addition, Master Shen also supplies Bantian Demon, Jiujiuya Group, etc.
On the other hand, dairy and egg products are very necessary in our daily diet. In fact, the relevant guidelines issued by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the Chinese Nutrition Society also clearly recommend that Chinese residents, including children, consume more milk and egg products.
But from the perspective of consumption, whether it is milk or eggs, there are many people who are not used to eating it, do not want to eat it, and do not like to eat it.
Source: Chinese Nutrition Society
As a result, Microcolando has opened the door to China's local cheese market.
In the process of resting egg products, Master Shen also provided Chinese people with a more nutritious and convenient product - dried eggs.
Chef Shen's dried eggs are steamed at high temperature with whole egg liquid, and in terms of protein content, every 100g of dried eggs is equivalent to about 400ml of milk.
For example, on traditional e-commerce platforms such as Tmall, JD.com, and Pinduoduo, Master Shen still occupies a dominant position in the category of dried eggs.
On the other hand, the content e-commerce based on Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu, Master Shen is also gradually improving his team.
Master Shen's Douyin live broadcast room
"Although the market is not good now, this category actually has a lot of market space in terms of existing capacity, so we should do a good job in this traditional e-commerce. In the past, we spent less energy on e-commerce, and now we need to do more refined operations. Shen Qiang confidently told First Food Information.
In the C-end business, Master Shen actively studies the portraits of the new generation of consumers and explores new growth points of the company. Innovations have been made in the taste and packaging of dried egg products, and the products that were originally based on the attributes of ingredients have been turned into a unique leisure snack series through a younger packaging design.
"This part of the online business will be a big increment in the future."
It is reported that the deep processing industry of egg products in mainland China started late, and European and United States countries can reach more than 40%, while domestic is less than 5%, and the molding technology of dried eggs just adds a deep processing method.
From the consumer side, dried eggs also have a good performance in the catering and leisure markets. However, the product form of egg products is not limited to dried eggs, and Master Shen is also actively developing more egg products.
Snack food of dried eggs
And the foundation of all this comes from Master Shen's strong technical strength.
On February 5, 2024, Master Shen's third production plant, the Intelligent 4.0 Factory, was completed and accepted. At present, Master Shen's 4.0 intelligent factory will also be successfully put into operation, which will further accelerate the layout of Master Shen in the egg industry chain and contribute to the rapid development of Master Shen.
In the exchange with Shen Qiang, we also learned that China's food industry is currently at a critical juncture of transformation and value improvement, and the application of intelligent and digital technology to expand production, build a digital supply chain, and improve the industrial chain and value chain has become the key driving force leading the entire industry to develop in a higher direction.
With the rise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the concept of "lighthouse factory" has been further promoted since 2018, and the "lighthouse factory" represents the highest level of intelligent manufacturing and digitalization in the global manufacturing sector.
In Shen Qiang's view, the modern food industry has always been a sunrise industry for human survival and development, and the transformation of the "lighthouse factory" of the food industry means that the future food enterprises should be more customer-oriented, pay attention to market trends at the same time, and better meet the needs of consumers in taste, aesthetics, emotions, experience and other aspects through digital technology.
"We are working towards the goal of a world-class factory, and we are now executing according to that standard."
In the conversation with Shen Qiang, First Food Information learned that the project has a total investment of 280 million yuan, a total planned construction area of about 77 acres, and a total construction area of more than 40,000 square meters. After the completion of the project, it will become the world's largest dried egg production base and the third largest egg liquid production base in southwest China, with an estimated annual use of 300 million eggs; It is worth mentioning that this is also the largest single egg liquid production base in the country. The commissioning of the new factory will not only greatly improve the product quality and production capacity of Master Shen, but also further promote the development of the dried egg industry.
Master Shen's new factory
At the same time, a history museum of dried eggs will be built to comprehensively display the traceability and development process of dried eggs, and deeply analyze the importance of dried eggs and the deep processing industry of egg products.
As the pioneer of dried eggs, Master Shen has been investing in product iteration and upgrading, marketing breakthroughs and innovations, and channel construction in order to better achieve this category.
On the other hand, Chef Shen is not limited to the category of dried eggs, but zooms in on the broader egg product industry chain, and develops more potential categories on the basis of cultivating internal skills.
Focusing on the egg product track, Master Shen has walked out of his own differentiated development path from product to category, from category to industrial chain. This will also provide a different reference model for peers in the food industry.