Reporter | Diyile Editor | Tang Wei 2020 is coming to an end, but the trend of "plant meat" has begun to make efforts at the beginning of the year. If you want to select a list of new domestic lifestyles, then "plant meat" must be on the list. The epidemic has given many variable

Reporter | Diyile

Editor | Tang Wei

020 is coming to an end, but the trend of "plant meat" has begun to make efforts at the beginning of the year. If you want to select a list of new domestic lifestyles, then "plant meat" must be on the list.

The epidemic has given many variables and opportunities for the development of the industry. After plant meat emerged last year, it finally ushered in explosive growth in the domestic market and attracted the attention of most people. Although the scale and concept of plant meat in foreign markets have long been mature, the plant meat track has just begun for the domestic consumption environment and the eating habits of Chinese people.

From last year's Jinzi Ham released beef-flavored, pork-flavored plant meat patties, plant meat lion heads and other products, to this year's Starbucks, KFC cooperated with Meats to launch plant meat burgers and pasta; on weekdays, Zero launched plant meat burgers and other products, more and more plant meat co-branded products have appeared in our daily lives.

Have the plant meat products tested by many giants gone from the trend to people's daily lifestyles? To this end, Interface Life has joined hands with plant meat brands Z-Rou Zhuangmao and Vesta to conduct questionnaires and comprehensively compiled other relevant data to release "Insights on Plant Meat: After "overcoming obstacles" along the way, whose lifestyle will plant meat become? 》 report, (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"), at the moment when the "plant meat fever" is becoming stable, analyze the development potential of this "new capital favorite" in the Chinese market and where will the track go in the future?

Whose lifestyle will plant meat "overcome all the way"?

For Chinese consumers, the most frequent hearing of the name "plant meat" was 2 or 3 months after the outbreak of the epidemic.

htmlOn April 20, KFC officially announced that it would jointly launch the public beta of the product of "planting and cultivating golden chicken nuggets" in the Chinese market with Beyond Meat. The next day, Starbucks China started selling "plant meat" food, and also cooperated with the special meat customers to launch products such as "green sauce pasta", "classic lasagna", and "American Chutney Roll".

Then, brands including Starfield Weekly Zero, Zhenmao, Vesta, Z-Rou Plant Meat, OmniPork New Meat have successively launched plant meat products or joint cooperation products, which once made people more choices and easier in the matter of "trying to eat plant meat". People seem to have come into contact with and taste this kind of plant-based meat product that has a taste that is not much different from "real meat".

Earlier, we discussed the topic of "" and focused on analyzing the development model and future market layout of Beyond Meat, the "first stock of plant meat". To a certain extent, the development and actions of different meat customers in China have given domestic consumers a lot of experience and understanding of "plant meat". If it is its initial exploration in China that Burger King made its debut at the second CIIE at the end of 2019, the launch of three plant meat products that cooperated with Weekly Zero, which Burger King made its debut at the second CIIE, then the joint products launched by major brands this year have truly put plant meat in the C position and successfully emerged from the circle.

019 is called the "first year of plant meat" by many people. A year later, this "new capital favorite" undoubtedly became a true star of tomorrow. What kind of group of people are buying plant meat? Do they cook themselves or taste the co-branded products? Why do they favor plant meat so much?

Thanks to the plant meat products launched by major brands, the popularity of plant meat has not disappointed us. The report shows that more than 96.8% of consumers have heard of plant meat, and only 3.2% are still relatively unfamiliar with it. Among them, online social media (72.9%), introduction of relatives and friends (31%), restaurant recommendations (25.8%), offline store promotion (17.4%) and the launch of co-branded products (16.1%) are the main channels for people to learn about plant meat.

Of course, plant meat is so popular that many consumers are even more active and choose their favorite plant meat products to buy and taste. Including plant-based meat burgers, plant-based meat noodles, plant-based meat mooncakes, plant-based meat ramen or plant-based meat rice, they have all become the product targets people have selected. The report shows that 52.3% and 65.2% of the people in the questionnaire have purchased and consumed plant meat, and the diversity of plant meat products will also prompt them to buy back different products.

"Remember when eating KFC planted golden chicken nuggets, the taste of the first bite is very similar to that of the golden chicken nuggets, but the fat at the connection between the skin and meat is not obvious, which is not very similar to the golden chicken nuggets." "When eating Starbucks pasta with green sauce, I didn't realize that the meat sauce inside is plant meat, which may be because of the small amount, and it feels that it is no different from ordinary pasta." Some consumers will give different feelings after first taste of plant meat products.

It can be seen that the popularity of plant meat attracts the attention of most young people. The plant meat products they learned from the Internet and in celebrity restaurants have become one of the driving forces to taste plant meat.

In people who frequently buy and consume plant meat products, we analyzed their gender, age and population tags. The report shows that women (79.4%) buy plant meat far more than men (20.6%), about 4 times that of male buyers. Among them, the post-90s and post-80s are mostly groups, accounting for 40% and 34.8% respectively. In terms of regional division, Shanghai, Beijing and Hubei rank among the top three in the areas where the most purchased people are located. The consumption potential of new first-tier cities such as Chengdu, Sichuan, Xi'an, Shaanxi, and Shandong , Qingdao should not be underestimated.

It can be seen that new concepts and new things such as "plant meat", the first and most acceptable group is the young white-collar worker . At the same time, thanks to the core words "environmental protection" and "health" created by plant meat, freshmen, environmental protection people, quality life people and health experts are not willing to lag behind and become the potential main buyer.

It is worth noting that retired people have also joined the plant meat purchase group . Most of them are affected by juniors and are mainly responsible for the daily dietary arrangements of their families after retirement. This is not difficult to explain why the proportion of people born in the 1960s (14.8%) buying plant meat is more than those born in the 1970s (8.4%).

Many consumers said that plant meat does not have cholesterol, but contains a lot of protein and a small amount of saturated fat, which is very friendly for some people with high-risk diseases or need for nutrition, body shape, etc.

It is undeniable that environmental protection and health have indeed become the concepts recognized and promoted by a large number of plant meat supporters today.

As people's health awareness increases, many people believe that this protein extraction method is comprehensive, easy to digest, has little environmental side effects and is animal-friendly. It not only meets the nutrition required by the human body, but also avoids a series of health problems caused by obesity. At the same time, it has also made a small contribution to the earth and the environment to a certain extent. Based on this, plant meat products were popular among people for a time.

Over time, "new protein substitute", "pure plant-based ingredient food", "low fat and low calorie", "balanced nutrition", "animal-friendly", and "environmental and low-carbon" have become the keywords of plant meat, and have become a major reason why people buy and eat plant meat. The report shows that among the people who buy plant meat, 67.1% think that they are healthy and more nutritious, and 63.9% think that they have low fat content and zero cholesterol. They want to maintain a good figure, and 47.1% think that they are conscious of environmental protection and animal protection. Only 36% and 18% of them taste and taste and curiosity.

It can be seen that when it comes to plant meat, most people pursue "quality and environmentally friendly" than "taste and taste". If people's perception of the concept of plant meat in the past was limited to "eating delicious food", then now people realize that plant meat should be "eat with confidence" and "eating environmentally friendly".

People are interested in plant meat, but meat substitutes are not easy to become popular in China.

has a consensus among people who are willing to try plant meat: in the diet, they will choose to eat it with animal meat. The report shows that 52.3% of people choose plant meat and animal meat to eat together. Among them, 26.5% of people will mainly eat plant meat to reduce animal meat intake; 25.8% of people will still mainly eat animal meat, supplemented by plant meat.

In addition, there are many people who are still in the stage of hesitation, waiting and testing. Among them, 13.5% said that it was just a temporary try, and 12.9% said that it would buy branded products. Of course, nearly 21% of people are not sure whether they will eat plant meat in the future.

For Chinese consumers, one fact is that there are almost very few people who truly replace plant meat with real meat and eat it every day. Based on the long-term dietary structure and eating habits of Chinese people, people still have a diversified demand for the types of meat products on the table, including the cooking methods of chicken, duck, fish, beef and mutton, and the selection of meat parts.

At present, most plant meat is still mainly meat filling and minced meat, which cannot fully meet the Chinese people's ultimate pursuit of meat flavor and taste. "If I want to eat pork ribs, then plant meat cannot satisfy me at the moment." Some consumers believe that the reason why they are still in the wait-and-see stage is because the presentation of plant meat is slightly single.

Because of this, people also have their own expectations for the product form of plant meat.

The report shows that 66.5% of people will directly purchase plant meat ingredients for cooking, and nearly 90% of people will choose to buy semi-finished products such as plant meat patties, meat filling, quick-frozen bento. In addition, nearly 45% of people expect other ready-to-eat foods such as snacks. doesn't need to cook and process it yourself, and it looks more popular with millennials and Gen Z.

In addition to product form, price also affects whether plant meat can become a "frequently visited" on people's dining table. The report shows that nearly 80% of people accept plant meat prices ≤35 yuan/jin, and 14.2% of people accept price ranges between 35-50 yuan/jin, but the price of >50 yuan/jin is not acceptable for the time being.

Indeed, the price of plant meat with higher costs than real meat also affects its sales. It is understood that the price of Starbucks' classic beef lasagna is 49 yuan per serving; the price of KFC's generation beef burger set is also 37-43 yuan per serving; the price of Z-Rou plant plant meat and minced meat is 59 yuan per serving; the price of Italian plant plant meat lasagna is 39.8 yuan per serving. It can be seen that these products have no price advantage compared to real meat, and they all exceed the price range that most people accept.

For all plant meat brands, although the Chinese market gives them a more secure external environment and more convenient communication space, there is still a long way to go to expand their business scope on a large scale in the Chinese market, diversify their product categories, meet people's personalized needs and cultivate their long-term purchasing habits.

Of course, after "overcoming all the troubles" along the way, plant meat has also gained a lot of enthusiasts with its healthy and environmentally friendly lifestyle. Perhaps in the future, more product forms of plant meat can become the "frequently" on people's dining tables. Please complete the

report.