Picture source @Visual China
Text | Zinc Scale, author | Xingwan, editor | Li Jinlin
"If you don't lose weight in March, you will be sad in April, you will be tired in May, and you will have no partner in June." I have experienced a whole journey. After the "fat building" plan in winter, it is now the most urgent time to lose weight.
"Shut up and move your legs" is an eternal classic in weight loss theory. Therefore, in addition to fitness exercises, weight loss meals have also become a necessity in the weight loss plan. But busy "community beasts" don't have time to prepare qualified fat-reducing meals every day, and secondly, they are also tired of studying the nutritional ratio.
Therefore, exquisite light food takeaways have always been popular among people who want to lose weight. Seeing the rising sales of light food takeout, many people began to study the secrets behind this business.
With the rise of national chain franchise stores and manufacturers focusing on the supply chain, they are making huge profits. The exquisitely plated light snacks may actually be all semi-finished products. At the same time, some merchants who do not understand nutrition either directly copy the online pictures for matching, or only refer to the brand's formula. There is still a question mark as to whether the packages they produce can truly meet the fat loss standards.
Exquisite weight loss, can't you escape the "collapse of the house"?
Bai Leyao, who just stepped out of the ivory tower last year, plunged into the financial circle that had nothing to do with her major. The high-intensity, continuous work nature made her daily diet chaotic and unhealthy. Although the high-oil and high-fat junk food satisfied her taste buds, it also gave her nearly 20 pounds of fat.
"Recently I found out the spring clothes I wore in school last year, and almost none of them fit me. It will be really sad if I don't lose weight." Adhering to the principle of "three points for training, seven points for eating", Bai Leyao regards diet control as a One of the more important aspects of weight loss. Therefore, at the beginning, Bai Leyao also carefully studied the methods of fat-reducing meals on platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo .
The proportion of carbohydrates, protein and fat in the daily diet is strictly 50%; 20% and 30%. The intake ratio of breakfast, lunch and dinner is 3:5:2; oats, corn, sweet potatoes, Barley, pumpkin, whole wheat bread are high-quality carbohydrates, and chicken breast, beef, fish, shrimp, milk, and mutton are high-quality proteins... Bai Leyao kept various fixed formulas for weight loss in mind, and then tried to make them for herself Made fat loss meals for a month.
After one month, Bai Leyao lost 4 pounds, but she decided to give up making her own fat-reducing meals. "I'm as busy as a top at work every day, and I have to go home and work in the kitchen for an hour or two after work. It's really tiring," Bai Leyao said. In this way, Bai Leyao started to try light takeout food again.
Bai Leyao switched back and forth between several takeout software, and finally selected a light food takeout restaurant with the most positive reviews and the freshest product pictures. "If the ingredients are hygienic and taste good, then this place will be used as a canteen from now on." Bai Leyao thought in her heart.
The take-out snacks look really good. The cover of each meal box will also mark the calories of carbohydrates , protein and fat in the meal, making it easier for people trying to lose weight to control their daily caloric intake. The taste is not bad either. For example, chicken breasts with a thicker texture tend to become more tender and smooth. Coupled with a variety of rich sauces, the overall flavor is even better than a homemade fat-reduction meal.
But after eating for a while, Bai Leyao found that she hardly fell off the scale, and then she discovered the problem. " Light food The caloric label of takeout is usually not trustworthy, and their pickling method is different from that at home, which may have higher calories."
More than one person like Bai Leyao has doubts about light food takeout, "Light food The takeout meal has a particularly high proportion of carbohydrates, but not enough high-quality protein, and it doesn’t feel like it’s going to help you lose weight,” a netizen wrote on his social platform.
Some people even said that they easily get abdominal pain and diarrhea after eating light takeout, so they have questions about the environment in which their food is produced.
In fact, since 2018, there have been many news reports about the worrying environment of stores that specialize in light food delivery.On March 18, some media exposed that the kitchens of "Im Fine Pochi Rice·Light Food" and "Lecheng Healthy Diet" had poor hygiene, items were piled up in a messy manner, and some staff did not hold health certificates when working.
In July 2021, the Yangcheng Evening News also reported that a local store selling tens of thousands of orders per month on a takeout platform had the words "Dine-in available" on the platform and related pictures. However, when the reporter arrived at the store, he discovered that this store Dine-in is not supported, and the store's kitchen is actually located in a shared takeout kitchen, so the production environment is worrying.
On the one hand, there is a rapidly rising demand for fat loss, and on the other hand, there are sideways and marginal light food takeaways. Finding a satisfying fat loss meal is far more difficult than it seems.
Entrepreneurship training: 11 hours to get started, low-cost supply of raw materials
"Now is an era of fast-paced entrepreneurship. Whether it is milk tea, cakes or light meals, you can basically find quick training courses. It is no exaggeration to say that even if you are A novice who knows nothing about this industry can start a business in just one week of study,” said an industry insider who has started a catering business many times.
This is indeed the case. As the consumer demand for health and weight loss among young people is rising day by day, more and more entrepreneurs are trying to get into the light food business. However, is everything really as beautiful as imagined?
Zinc Scale learned from many light food entrepreneurship training institutions that the threshold for light food entrepreneurship is indeed very low, with short learning times and simple learning content. "We have two learning methods, one is live teaching + recorded teaching + core formula materials, and the other is recorded teaching + core formula materials. The prices are 3,280 yuan and 2,280 yuan respectively. The materials can be played back repeatedly and for life. Free learning." Teacher Wang, the admissions teacher of "Suhe Light Food Training" told Zinc Scale, "The online courses total more than 90 hours, about 11 hours in length, including light food technology + store operation courses, such as site selection, Certificate application, takeout operations, etc. "
To put it simply, by spending 2,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan and 11 hours, you can transform from a clueless novice to a light food entrepreneur.
What makes starting a light food business so simple cannot be circumvented by the particularity of its products. In fact, most of the meals for light takeout are semi-finished products, so the cooking skills of the production staff are not high. Daily practical operations are often just simple cleaning of vegetables, cutting of fruits, etc.
In this way, not only is the production convenient and simple, but the cost can also be saved. Zinc Scale learned from a manufacturer that focuses on the national light food supply chain that the price of semi-finished products for light food takeout is very low.
30g pack of Italian black pepper juice, classic sesame sauce, Japanese zero-fat onion juice, zero-fat and zero-sugar millet spicy sauce, milky Caesar salad dressing, Thai spicy and sour zero-fat pomelo sauce and other light snacks and sauces , the most expensive is only 0.72 yuan per pack.
The price of semi-finished meat is also "attractive". 10KG/piece of Turkish grilled chicken breast is priced at 253 yuan, equivalent to 12.6 yuan per catty; 10KG/piece of green shrimp is priced at 475 yuan, equivalent to 23.8 yuan per catty. ; Sichuan-flavored beef cubes 10KG/piece, the price is 625 yuan, which is equivalent to 31.2 yuan per kilogram.
Purchase prices of light food sauces and semi-finished products
In fact, such prices are far from the cost of fresh meat in the market, not to mention the materials and labor costs required for marinating.
Because of this, light food entrepreneurship training institutions often regard operational guidance as a more important link, while meal production can be left to the supply chain. In this way, they can continue to earn material fees from franchisees. .
“Whether it’s a light meal at home or a takeout shop, maintaining a good community is very important. Private traffic is a powerful tool for us to bypass the platform to make transactions and greatly increase profits, so everyone must have the awareness to create private traffic "A light food entrepreneurship training institution wrote in its training course how to increase visibility through the takeout platform and then convert private domain traffic to increase profits.
How to manage takeout and how to operate a community have become the focus of light food takeout operations, while light food itself seems to have become a product of a mixed supply chain.
hits the pain point of losing weight, why can’t it still fly high?
In recent years, thin trends such as "touching the belly button with backhand", "putting coins on the collarbone", and "A4 waist" have emerged on the Internet, continuing to create body anxiety among the people. The era of "thinness is considered beautiful" has promoted light eating. industry prosperity.
The "2021 China Light Food Salad Industry Investment Decision Analysis Report" released by the relevant research institute of China's catering big data shows that in 2020, 5,792 new light food stores were opened nationwide and 3,985 stores were closed. Light food is one of the few catering categories that can maintain growth in the number of stores during the epidemic;
The report also shows that the number of Chinese light food salad consumers reached 11.8 million in 2020. According to iiMedia Consulting data, the market size of the domestic light meal replacement industry will increase by 95.6% year-on-year in 2021 compared with 2020. It is expected that China's light food market will reach 120 billion yuan in 2022. Because of its strong development momentum,
has seen an endless stream of new entrants. Zinc Scale learned from Aiqi Investigation that within one year, more than 160,000 new companies were related to the light food industry. Among people who want to lose weight and keep fit, light meals have become a daily routine and are no longer just a posing for photos.
chain fast food brands have also come to take a share of the pie. Shaxian Snacks has launched Shaxian Light Food; Xibei Youmian Village has opened a yogurt house, focusing on light food; Pizza Hut has added independent salad bars in some stores; KFC is also in Hangzhou The light food restaurant "KPRO" was opened...
However, behind the rapid development of the industry, there is also a turbulent crisis hidden.
’s “Miyou Salad”, “ Sweetheart Rock Salad ” and “Land Pie Salad”, which received several rounds of financing during the last wave of Internet dividends, have almost disappeared from the public eye. The current situation of large chain brands is not easy. The popular Internet celebrity light food restaurant "New Element" announced bankruptcy and liquidation at the end of 2021, and stated in a statement that "Before the COVID-19 epidemic, the company had always been profitable, but In the two years since the outbreak, the company has been plagued by heavy financial conditions. "
Big brands are not doing well, and the situation of small businesses is even more difficult to describe. “More people are coming out to cut leeks now.” A businessman who has participated in light food entrepreneurship training told Zinc Scale, “The so-called business training is almost all paper talk that is difficult to cope with the actual situation, and the prices of goods provided by the headquarters are not low. , directly affecting profits. More importantly, the food design and training are not innovative, and they cannot compete in the light food takeout market. "
The development status of the light food industry that has entered a bottleneck has also been affected by the capital market. With the corresponding attitude, in the past year, except for the financing of Dongchi and Mint Healthy Harvest, other similar projects have almost disappeared.
Mint Health Financing Source @爱奇超
And this seems to pour cold water on the entire industry. Now there are many difficulties facing the industry, including the half-year industry off-season, the same set, production and delivery of meals. Safety and health guarantees, reasonable nutrition ratio... In an environment where the overall industrialization and standardization of the industry is still insufficient, the emergence of any problem may directly affect the survival of a brand.
