An ultra-short shelf life eight treasure duck, reflecting the new trend of healthy consumption of new year goods

The first food production base located on Nanle Road in Songjiang District is still running rapidly during the Spring Festival holiday this year. The Shanghai big red sausage, hemp duck eight treasure duck, white cut lamb and New Year gift box produced here will be sent to the Hema fresh growth triangle area and Hema X membership store every day, which is the New Year's cooked food favored by many consumers, and the shortage of supply is the norm during the Spring Festival in these two years.

"This year's Spring Festival, our shipments increased by nearly 25% compared with the same period last year." Xie Zhihai, deputy general manager of the first food production base, used "very busy" to describe the recent work status. Behind the busyness, it reflects the public's demand for the improvement of the quality of life - in the past, many Spring Festival gift packages in the New Year goods, the shelf life of most of the 9 months, the factory can process and prepare the goods in advance, and now, many consumers are more inclined to ultra-short shelf life of the annual cooked food, healthy consumption trend is obvious, for the production base to bring new opportunities for the new year goods.

Healthy consumption plays a leading role and is busy with market demand

Early in the morning, the production workshop began to prepare for the production of Ma Duck Babao Duck. The duck is first marinated, oiled, and steamed to remove moisture, during which accessories are prepared, ham, scallops, duck gizzards, chestnuts, shiitake mushrooms and other ingredients are cut into a centimeter cube in a semi-cooked state, mixed with seven ripe glutinous rice, stuffed into the duck cavity, and then the whole duck is wrapped tightly with lotus leaves, wrapped in aluminum foil, and then cooked in the steaming oven for 5 hours before completion... From feeding to finished product, it takes 30 processes and 48 hours.

Xie Zhihai said that in the early years, this dish could only be eaten in restaurants such as old restaurants in Shanghai. In recent years, with the upgrading of consumption, the annual taste with a shelf life of 15 days or even 7 days has become more and more sought after, "Our factory rushed to make New Year's cooked food during the Spring Festival, all of which are busy for the current market demand."

This year, more people choose to stay in Shanghai for the New Year. Since January, the production pressure of this ultra-short shelf life hemp duck has been rising. "Hema fresh is mainly home-based consumption, consumption enthusiasm is high, every day to urge the goods, we are the same day production, distribution, no inventory and no stock." Xie Zhihai pointed to the production report on his mobile phone and said, "Our normal supply is 400 copies per day, and yesterday we only supplied 500 copies to Hema, in addition to a batch of goods prepared for the first food store."

Compared with last year, this year's factory is busier. "The Spring Festival has always been the peak season, last year 90% of the workers stayed at their posts, this year we not only stayed on the job, but also temporarily added some people to carry out post-packing and other work." He expects the factory to be busy until after the Lantern Festival.

It is not only necessary to ensure supply, but also to expand new demand

Around the Spring Festival this year, factory shipments increased significantly compared with last year, Xie Zhihai believes that there are several reasons, on the one hand, the increase in the number of people staying in Shanghai for the New Year, they are more willing to try Shanghai's local New Year characteristics; on the other hand, it is also related to the acceleration of R & D innovation in the factory over the years.

Every New Year, the Shanghai big red sausage sold by the first food store on East Nanjing Road is a must-have for many Shencheng families. In the past two years, the traditional Shanghai big red sausage has continued to sell hot, but its taste has "fissioned". For example, rattan pepper flavored red sausage and corn flavored red sausage are all "net red" varieties listed last year, and they are also jointly developed by the production base and hema workshop. Half a month ago, Hema freshly put on the new lipstick sausage, added flaxseed as a raw material, not only to increase the aroma, but also in line with the trend of healthy consumption, in the case of no promotion on the shelves, the daily sales have reached several thousand.

The changes in New Year goods themselves reflect consumers' taste preferences and derivations. Whether it is a hemp duck with a layer of refinement and an ultra-short shelf life, or an innovation and "fission" of a Shanghai big red sausage, it reflects people's explosive demand for quality consumption, personalized consumption, and healthy consumption, which requires enough innovation and product iteration on the supply side. In Xie Zhihai's view, in the future, "no closing" will be the normal Spring Festival in the production base, "we not only have to ensure supply, but also expand new demand."

Author: Xu Jinghui

Photograph: Zhang Yichen

Editor: Su Zhan