According to the American Consumer News and Business Channel TV, the average annual consumption of cheese increased from 14 pounds in 1975 to 38 pounds in 20 18 years. In addition, Americans consume an average of 2 pounds of cottage cheese, which is very low-end, almost different product categories, and cannot be counted as cheese.
The soaring consumption of cheese seems abnormal, because the annual per capita consumption of liquid milk in the United States has dropped from 247 pounds in 1970 to 20 pounds in18.
In recent years, yogurt has expanded slightly, but its proportion in the dairy market is far less than that of cheese. Americans eat much more cheese than yogurt.
Italian pizza has promoted the consumption of American cheese.
The growth of cheese in America depends on the development of catering. 25% of cheese consumption comes from pizza.
The consumption of American mozzarella cheese increased from 1. 19 in 1970 to 12.438+05 in 20 18. The increase in the sales of mozzarella cheese in the United States benefited from the large-scale entry of Italian pizza into the American market in the middle of last century, which became the mainstream food in the American catering industry and the most popular cheese category in the American market. Pizza chain stores such as Domino's, Pizza Hut and Little Caesar are very popular.
According to a survey conducted by USDA in 20 14, one in eight Americans over 2 years old and one in four Americans aged 6- 16 eat pizza every day.
In 20 19, the market capacity of American pizza was $45 billion. The price of pizza ranges from $2 in retail channels to more than $20 in catering channels. Mexican restaurants and restaurants in the southwestern United States have also boosted the demand for cheese such as cheddar and jack cheese.
Before 20 12, Taco Bell only used cheese, tomatoes and lettuce as decorative ingredients. Later, cheese was used as an important condiment (such as dipping sauce) and stuffing in food research and development, which greatly increased the consumption of cheese.
American cheese turns from prosperity to decline
In the 1950 s, American hamburgers rose in the market, and a processed orange cheese was used for hamburgers, sandwiches and tuna. This cheese is added with other ingredients (such as whey, milk fat, lactic acid, calcium phosphate, modified starch, salt, vitamin D3, etc.). ), longer shelf life and better solubility.
Typical American brands of processed cheese include Kraft Single and Velveeta Kraft, and cheese spreads such as cream cheese, simple cheese and cheese Whiz. James Lewis Kraft, an American born in Canada, applied for a patent for his American cheese technology. Due to the popularity of American cheese, Kraft has become a household name in the American market. McDonald's contributed to American cheese, which not only swept the United States, but also went to the world, pushing American cheese to the world.
However, according to IRI's research, in the past ten years, because people prefer natural and healthy food, American cheese is not in the limelight, and the number of flaky and smeared American cheese in retail channels has decreased by 18%. 1995 The per capita annual consumption of American cheese was 8.7 pounds. 20 18 years, this figure is 7.07 Jin. In the past five years, another declining product is margarine.
20 15 even someone publicly attacked American cheese on the internet, saying, "Kraft cheese is plastic, not cheese at all. Don't be ridiculous." Kraft responded through the American Consumer News and Business Channel on August 3, 20201that Kraft stood out in that year and brought fresh and easy-to-use cheese to the American public. Today, 60% of American families are loyal users of American cheese. In addition to processed cheese, Kraft currently produces more than 30 kinds of natural cheese.
The sales of processed cheese in retail channels are declining, but in cooked food stalls and restaurants in retail stores, consumers' enthusiasm for hamburgers using processed cheese does not seem to decrease, and the sales volume has not changed.
The decline in American cheese sales is also related to the improvement of natural cheese production and preservation technology, and preservatives are not needed.
During the COVID-19 epidemic, the sales of American cheese and margarine rebounded.
During the COVID-19 epidemic, the sales of American cheese actually showed a recovery trend. A large number of consumers need to buy cheese with longer shelf life, increase the inventory in kitchens and refrigerators, and make some old-fashioned food. Kraft's American cheese has therefore risen sharply. Margarine also has amazing sales performance.
Kraft said that the sales of its single Kraft brand American cheese showed double-digit growth this year. The search volume of "grilled cheese sandwich" on the Internet has increased by 30%.
Shredded cheese has replaced big cheese as the mainstream form.
In the retail channel, the packaging size of cheese is also varied, giving consumers more choices. Cheese used to be sold in pieces. Later, in order to attract consumers to sell this large piece of cheese, shops often offered to cut it into pieces for them. In the1990s, bagged shredded cheese appeared. At present, shredded cheese is the mainstream form of cheese market.
At present, the market capacity of natural cheese is170-1800 million dollars, of which the market capacity of cheese shreds is 6 billion dollars. The application scenarios of cheese shreds are very rich. A quarter of people eat shredded cheese directly as a snack. When people cook fried eggs or tortillas at home, they often take time to eat a few small pieces of cheese directly.
Natural cheese is also sliced and packed in bags. From the outside, it looks like rows of shingles on the roof, but the sales volume is still not as good as those of large pieces of cheese. There are also chopped, thin sticks and small squares, which are convenient for people to eat as snacks or make salads and other dishes.
A brand called Babybel produces a small wheel cheese. Oscar Mayer and Sargento mixed cheese with nuts, dried fruits and chocolates and sold them as snacks. Some companies sell cheese as a high-protein food to meet the heat demand for high-protein food in recent years. To this end, Oscar Meyer even has a product called "portable protein bag".
In the catering channel, some restaurants and coffee shops try to blend cheese with coffee and cheese with red wine.
Vegetable cheese appeared on stage.
Vegetable cheeses have also appeared now, but their market share is only 3.3%. The proportion of vegetable cheese competing with natural cheese is not 0. 1% today.
According to GFI's research, the global cheese market is $2013.6 billion, while the American cheese market is about $23.6 billion in 20 17. In 20 16 years, the global market value of vegetable cheese is about 2 1 100 million dollars. In 20 19, the American vegetable cheese market was much smaller, only1600,000 dollars, but it has been growing rapidly in recent years.
Nick Cooney, CEO of Leveraged VC, said that it is estimated that the size of the American cheese market will reach $25 billion in 2022, of which vegetable cheese will increase by $36,543.8 billion on the basis of the current $654.38+60 million, reaching 13% of the American cheese market. The premise of this prediction is that American vegetable cheese can also replicate the success of vegetable milk in the American milk beverage market, that is, vegetable milk currently accounts for 13% of the national milk beverage market.
There are many vegetable-based cheese enterprises in the United States, including Good Planet Food Company, viollet's Company and Dai Ya Company. The first two factories are in Greece. Dai Ya. In terms of distribution, Dai Ya has the widest product coverage. In 20 17, it was acquired by Dingfeng Food for 325 million US dollars (6 times the valuation income). Besides cheese, it also produces foods such as yogurt and frozen lunch boxes. The quality of its cheese products is positioned in the mass market, but the price is similar to that of Good Planet Foods and Violife.
There are four smaller cheese enterprises in the United States, namely Kite Hill, Miyoko's, Treeline, Spero and Numu. The first four companies produce cheese wheels and cheese sauce based on nuts, but do not produce cheese slices and cheese pieces. Numu specializes in producing mozzarella cheese shreds for the pizza industry.
There is still room for development in the American cheese market.
In 20 14, the international dairy food association counted that France consumed 57 pounds of cheese per capita, while the United States consumed 34 pounds of cheese per capita. The per capita consumption of the top ten cheese consuming countries in the world is all in Europe, and Denmark is the largest. The per capita consumption of cheese in Denmark is 28kg, while that in America is 17kg. Although the average American cheese consumption has doubled since 1975, there is still a big gap with Denmark.
According to Paul Niemnisky of American Dairy Management Company (DMI), at present, 85% of beef hamburgers in the American market use cheese, while only 10% of hamburgers in chicken sandwiches use cheese. Chicken itself tastes lighter than beef. If cheese is added, it may be more mellow. This may be a product opportunity for the future development of cheese.
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[Author Brief Introduction] Haiping Gao d, editor of Xinhua News Agency in 1990s, entered the market research industry in 200 1 and worked in Euromonitor, M and Dutch cooperative bank. At present, he is engaged in food industry research, writing and investment consulting services in Shanghai Gaogang Consulting, mainly focusing on emerging food sub-industries, such as frozen baking, artificial meat, free-range chicken and central kitchen. He is also the editorial consultant and special English contributor of Jung's food industry media Food Pacific Manufacturing Magazine, and the food industry research consultant of Shanghai Hongzhang Capital and Hong Kong Dongfeng Capital.