The "plant meat" category, known as the new outlet, is now a market of 100 billion yuan, attracting catering companies such as McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut to cooperate with vegetable meat companies to launch vegetable meat products, which are becoming potential stocks in the food consumption track. .

However, from the perspective of production principles, it is not uncommon in China with a diverse food culture, but because of the new pronoun "plant meat", it has become a new track "rising from the ground". Rely on our own efforts to discover consumers' deeper pursuit of food health, environmental protection and safety.

In the online live broadcast of "How Health Food Brands Seize the Growth Opportunities of Sub-categories" held by SIAL Online Think Tank on December 21, the column "New Consumer Creator" focused on a new "technology flow" brand - "Fuyaozhi" Shang”, the brand focuses on high-moisture vegetable meat, and in just 4 months since it entered the market in September 2021, it has covered 300 restaurants in Beijing and Shanghai.

▲ Guest of "New Consumer Creator" Issue 027

Mr. Wang Zhe, General Manager of "Fuyao Food"

What is more noteworthy is that the R&D team of this brand has a number of national-level researchers. "Key technologies for high-moisture plant-based protein-based meat processing and industrialization demonstration of complete sets of equipment" have won the national technical achievement appraisal organized by two academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. reach the international advanced level. A total of 15 patents have been applied for, of which 4 are authorized invention patents. Published 14 research papers, and participated in the formulation of 1 group standard for high-moisture vegetable meat bases of the China Cereals and Oils Association.

At the live event, the reporter had the opportunity to have an exclusive interview with Mr. Wang Zhe, general manager of Harbin Fuyao Food Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dongfang Group Co., Ltd. He firmly believes that vegetable meat has great development potential in China and has devoted himself to the research of vegetable meat. In the past 20 years, Mr. Wang Zhe said, "Fuyao Zhishang is committed to becoming the pioneer and leader of high-moisture vegetable meat in China, and a provider of overall solutions for high-moisture vegetable meat."

01

65% high moisture vegetable meat

"Creator": Could you please introduce the difference between the "high-moisture vegetable meat" of Fuyao's planted brand and other brands of vegetable meat on the market?

Wang Zhe:

The biggest difference between Fuyao Zhishang and other brands of plant meat is the moisture content of the product. The average moisture content of most plant meats on the market is below 35%, while the average moisture content of Fuyao Zhishang’s plant meat is about 65%, and the highest 70%.

What is the concept of about 65% moisture? The water content of animal meat and human skin is about 65%. The water content of vegetable meat planted on Fuyao is close to that of animal meat. The product is obviously superior to vegetable meat products with low water content in terms of taste, texture and nutritional content.

"Creator": What is the core technology that allows Fuyao to achieve about 65% moisture in plant meat?

Wang Zhe:

Plant meat processing generally includes two processes, one is high-moisture (also known as "wet") and the other is low-moisture (also known as dry). Fuyao Zhishang has established core technical barriers in the field of high-moisture vegetable meat, mainly thanks to the protein texture recombination technology, process and equipment independently developed by Fuyao Zhishang. It consists of three refined production links: texture reorganization - black box technology - shaping and cooling, which reshapes the raw protein structure, and produces high-moisture vegetable meat products that are more elastic, tough and chewy.

"Creator": Plant-based meat on the market is emphasizing simulated taste and texture. Can it really be compared with meat in terms of nutritional content?

Wang Zhe:

The nutritional components of plant meat and animal meat are very similar. Compared with animal meat, plant meat has more advantages in some nutrients, such as plant meat 0 cholesterol, 0 sugar, 0 trans fatty acids, 0 animal hormones, ‍‍ Rich in dietary fiber, the protein is higher than that of animal meat, and the digestion and absorption rate is higher than that of animal meat.

In addition to the above nutrients contained in Fuyao Zhishang vegetable meat, we use the endogenous oil from the rice bran from the black soil of the cold region, and apply it to the Fuyao Zhishang brand vegetable meat products, which can make Fuyao Zhishang plant meat better. The texture achieves a very good effect.

"Creator": What are the competitive advantages of Fuyaozhi?

Wang Zhe:

The core advantage of Fuyao Zhishang lies in its independent research and development strength and process technology.

The independent research and development capability of high-moisture vegetable meat is our irreplaceable soft power. First of all, we have a leading R&D team in China, including the first doctoral researcher who devoted himself to the research and development of vegetable meat, and a number of national innovation awards. The technology has obtained the national technical achievement appraisal organized by two academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, reaching the international advanced level.

In terms of process technology, Fuyao planted core technical barriers that are difficult to break through in brand building. The team independently developed protein texture reorganization equipment that is ahead of the domestic industry level. After years of R&D and design of production equipment, it has achieved innovative technological breakthroughs and completed domestic construction. First-class integrated production line.

02

Profitable in one year

Three years to achieve 3.0 stage leap

"Creator": How do you view the development of the domestic plant meat market? What is the development stage of Fuyao Zhishang? ‍‍

Wang Zhe:

I think the vegetable meat market can be divided into three stages: the 1.0 era is the construction of the basic production line of vegetable protein texture reorganization, and the basic exploration of high-moisture vegetable protein meat production;

The 2.0 era is the optimization and improvement of production technology and raw material components, which further enriches the taste and seasoning attributes of vegetable meat products;

The era of 3.0 is a stage of breakthrough research and development, and in the future, bacterial proteins and algal proteins will be integrated into the production of plant meat through biosynthesis technology.

At present, Fuyaozhishang has entered the theoretical research and process technology research in the early stage of the 2.0 era, and it is expected to complete the transformation of the 2.0 era in the next 1 to 2 years. In this process, the research on the "heat sensitivity" of raw materials is a difficult point that needs to be overcome.

"Creator": The concept of eating plant meat has been greatly influenced by foreign countries. What is the difference between the needs of domestic audiences and the market? How should brands respond?

Wang Zhe:

There are obvious differences in the consumption of plant meat at home and abroad. In terms of user needs, there are many foreign vegans and animal protectionists, who have strong environmental awareness and animal protection concepts, and are more accepting of vegetarian eating habits. Domestic consumers’ eating habits are more diversified. Their daily diet is based on “frying, frying, cooking, frying, sauce, marinating and stewing”, and they pay more attention to the five senses of vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch. higher requirements.

The difference in market development is mainly reflected in the depth of education. In the process of talent training, many foreign universities will carry out education on concepts such as diet nutrition, health, and fitness. For example, Harvard University has the concept of eating vegetarian food once a week. Plant meat has a good market consumption base in foreign countries, but there is a lack of special education on diet in China, and the food culture is diversified, which makes it even more difficult to educate the domestic plant meat market.

The reception of new things in the Chinese market often comes from the consumption experience of catering companies. Therefore, Fuyao Zhishang brand took the lead in establishing cooperation with many domestic high-end vegetarian restaurants (including: Jingzhaoyin, Suzhi, etc.) The scene promotes plant meat, and the Fuyao planting brand will continue to work hard in market education in the future.

"Creator": ‍‍Why did Fuyao choose to enter the market with the product layout of "semi-finished products and application solutions"?

Wang Zhe:

At this stage, the education costs and sales channel costs of plant-based meat brands for the consumer market are very high. Even Beyond Meat, the first stock of artificial meat in the United States, is losing money, relying on financing to support high marketing costs.

Therefore, Fuyaozhishang is currently positioned as the stage of market cultivation and optimization. Focus on catering consumption scenarios, strengthen cooperation with catering companies, and focus on laying out catering channels, including mid-to-high-end vegetarian restaurants, fast food, group meals, etc. At present, it has covered nearly 300 offline restaurants in Beijing and Shanghai.

First of all, create several classic products, such as small crispy meat, chicken sticks and other unique semi-finished products. At the same time, focusing on the needs of catering enterprises, it provides solutions such as pizza topping, pasta sauce, fried chicken and other solutions required by Western-style catering. Solutions such as lion head, roujiamo, minced meat, meatballs, meatballs, etc. suitable for the eight major Chinese cuisines, with the help of catering consumption scenarios to educate consumers on the consumption of plant-based meat, and comprehensively create users' awareness of Fuyao's branding. understanding.

The Fuyao Zhishang brand plan will be launched in 2022 and comprehensively promote the planning and layout of C-end channels, including mainstream e-commerce companies such as JD.com, Tmall, Dingdong Maicai, Daily Youxian, and Meituan, and new products represented by Hema Xiansheng. retail channels.

"Creator": What is the progress of our current production line construction? What is the product plan for 2022?

Wang Zhe:

It took us 135 days to build our own production line. The factory will be officially put into mass production in September 2021. The designed production capacity is about 5,000 tons. The actual production capacity is currently about 3,000 tons, and the production capacity is gradually increasing.

At present, there are more than 30 categories of products in stock, six of which have been launched into the market. It is estimated that by the end of 2022, we will have the production capacity of more than 100 categories of plant-based meat products.

Creator: In your opinion, what is the development prospect of the domestic plant meat market? What is the brand goal of Fuyao?

Wang Zhe:

At present, the domestic vegetable meat market is uneven. Low-moisture vegetable meat occupies the mainstream of the market. There is a big gap between product taste, texture, nutritional content and high-moisture vegetable meat, making it difficult for consumers to distinguish.

The Fuyao Zhishang brand hopes to provide consumers with high-quality, nutritious and high-moisture plant-based meat products, achieve break-even in one year, and achieve the leap to the 3.0 stage of plant-based meat development in three years.

We are now preparing for the A round of financing, and hope that through the introduction of funds, we can increase the production capacity of the Fuyao plant, improve the quality, and reduce consumption. I hope to build factories in the sales area in the future to improve the operation efficiency of the supply chain. At the same time, we will firmly grasp the resource advantages of the whole industrial chain of black soil in the cold region and the core technical advantages of high-moisture vegetable meat in our own hands, and strive to become China's high-tech enterprises. Moisture is the No. 1 brand of plant-based meat, achieving the strategic goal of No. 1 in market size.