KFC’s plant-based meat burgers are coming to Beijing. They are more expensive than real meat. Will you place an order?

Beijing Daily Client

06-03 · "Beijing Daily" official account

Plant-based broiler chicken nuggets were first sold in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in April Finally appeared in the Beijing store. At 9:30 a.m. on June 3, two plant-based meat products, "Plant-Planted Beef Cheeseburger" and "Plant-Planted Golden Chicken Nuggets", were put on sale at KFC's Xuanwu store.

With the trend of plant-based meat, in less than two months, seven brands including Starbucks, Heytea, Nestlé, and Wanchai Pier have entered the market. More and more mainstream players are entering the market, but how receptive are consumers to plant-based meat?

Sold out within 3 hours of going online

It is understood that KFC’s second round of “plant-based meat” public testing has been expanded to 4 cities: Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Chengdu*** Among the 5 restaurants, in addition to the chicken nuggets from the first round of public beta, there are also new beef burgers from KFC China and Beyond Meat.

According to store staff, plant-based meat products are in limited supply during this public beta and will last for three days. There are about 80 burgers and thousands of chicken nuggets. Beijing Daily client reporter noticed that the early adopter price of cultured golden chicken nuggets is 2 yuan and 5 yuan, which is much cheaper than the 11 yuan of ordinary chicken nuggets; the cultured beef cheeseburger is 32 yuan a piece, which is much cheaper than the "whole thick-cut" "Australian steak burger" is 1.5 yuan more expensive.

Judging from the enthusiasm of consumers, "plant meat" also has a high degree of acceptance in restaurants in Beijing. "The texture and taste of plant-based meat chicken nuggets are similar to real meat, and the water chestnuts added to the filling are very satisfying. The beef patties in the beef cheeseburger have a distinct grainy texture, and the taste is significantly different from the fiber of ordinary beef patties, but You can still taste the aroma of beef." Most of the consumers who came to try it gave positive reviews.

The reporter noticed that by around 12 noon, the "cultured beef cheeseburger" prepared by the store for the three-day public beta period showed that it had been sold out. In April this year, KFC launched cultured golden chicken nuggets in three stores in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The test price was 1.99 yuan for 5 pieces. It was also sold out on the first day of pre-sale.

In two months, 7 brands have flocked to the track

Since the first plant-based meal startup company in the United States, Biyangrouke, was listed on Nasdaq in May last year, Artificial meat continues to become the focus of the industry. In August last year, products such as Zhenrou’s plant-based meat mooncakes and Starfield’s plant-based meat burgers were launched one after another, kicking off the launch of plant-based meat products in the domestic market.

In the past two months, major catering chains and food manufacturers have begun to get involved in plant-based meat products. KFC, Starbucks, and Heytea have launched plant-based meat chicken nuggets, plant-based meat light foods, and plant-based meat burgers. In less than two months, plant-based meat products have been “blooming everywhere” in thousands of chain stores of various brands. .

Even many traditional food processing companies have begun to accelerate their entry into the market by updating instant products and establishing production lines. In the past two months, Zhejiang's time-honored brand "Zhu Laoda" has launched artificial meat rice dumplings; quick-frozen food brand "Wanchai Pier" has launched plant-based meat dumplings; Danone Group has launched plant protein powder brand VEGA ONE in the Chinese market; Nestlé China has launched a plant-based meat dumpling in Tianjin An investment project worth RMB 730 million has been launched, including Asia's first plant-based product production line, which is scheduled to be put into production in the second half of this year; Jinluo's plant-based meat products vegetarian meat and vegetarian sausages have also been launched.

The reporter noticed that among the above-mentioned plant-based meat products, except for "test" products such as KFC's cultured chicken nuggets, the prices of officially launched plant-based meat products are generally more expensive than real meat products. Take Zhu Laoda’s plant-based meat rice dumplings as an example. A set of 3 rice dumplings using “artificial meat” including curry beef rice dumplings, sea duck egg pork belly rice dumplings, and cheese meatball rice dumplings is priced at 59.9 yuan, while the price of ordinary rice dumplings is about 30 yuan for 4 pieces. , 6 pieces for about 40 yuan.

In addition, most of the consumers who try plant-based meat products have an early adopter mentality, or are originally vegetarians or fitness people. It seems that consumers who really choose to use plant-based meat products as daily meat substitutes do not not much.

Food innovation or following the trend and speculating on concepts?

According to the forecast of Markets and Markets, a US market research consulting company, the global market size of plant-based artificial meat in 2019 will be approximately US$12.1 billion, and is expected to grow at a compound growth rate of approximately 15.0 per year and will reach 2025 by 2025. $27.9 billion.

However, from the current point of view, although plant-based meat products are blooming everywhere, most of the plant-based meat products in most restaurants and food brands come from plant-based meat suppliers such as Bishanrou, Zhou Ling, and Xinshan Meat. After being purchased by merchants, restaurants and food processing companies, they can be made into different types of food such as meat patties, meatballs, and meat fillings as needed. Not many of them actually invest in research and development.

“Cooperating with brands with traffic can at least achieve immediate results in the promotion of new products and new customer traffic.” Xue Yan, secretary-general of the China Plant Food Industry Alliance, believes that the promotion of mature brands is beneficial to the consumer market Quickly build awareness and acceptance of plant-based meat. "But all brands use the same raw materials, which can easily cause consumers to lose the freshness of plant-based meat products and create higher expectations."

In Xue Yan's view, industrial development ultimately depends on It depends on who can develop products that meet local tastes and consumption habits. "As long as they can break through technical barriers and develop plant-based meat products that suit Chinese people's tastes, other brands are also likely to stand out from these tight encirclements and occupy a place in the future.

However, many food experts are also concerned about the current stage. It is still doubtful whether the consumption scale can support the research and development and mass production of artificial meat technology with high barriers. "From the perspective of future development, artificial meat may become an important non-staple food in people's daily lives. However, artificial meat is still in the stage of conceptual hype. There is still a long way to go before it can completely replace real meat. " said Zhu Danpeng, analyst of China's food industry.

Source Beijing Daily Client | Intern reporter Yang Tianyue

Editor: Yang Tianyue

Process editor: Wang Mengying

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