On October 20, the 2023 Takeaway High-Quality Development and Healthy Life Forum was held in Beijing. At the forum, Meituan Takeaway, together with the China Chain Store Association and other parties, released the "Opportunity Point Insights Report on Healthy Demand for Takeaway Services" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"), providing practical and effective action suggestions for takeaway catering enterprises to help consumers achieve a healthier and better life. In addition, the organizers also launched the "Beautiful Children’s Meal Plan" to promote the development of children’s meals in a healthier and higher quality direction.
"One old and one small" has become a new increase in takeaway consumption, and Chinese healthy meals have seen explosive growth
In recent years, the catering industry has undergone profound digital changes, becoming an important driving force for the recovery of the consumer market and the upgrading of quality. According to the "Report", consumers’ acceptance and action for takeaway dining are constantly improving. More than 90% of consumers recognize takeaway dining more than in the past two years, and more than a quarter of consumers have increased the frequency of takeaway consumption. The takeaway scene extends to families, and "one old and one small" has become an increase in consumption. The "Report" shows that 65% of families have ordered takeout for children, and 25% of families have ordered takeout for the elderly. 58% of consumers will make choices based on their needs and their own judgment when ordering food for children or the elderly.
More and more businesses are launching children’s meals
Consumers’ acceptance and action for takeaway meals have increased, and healthy eating has become the keyword of takeaway. The "Report" pointed out that "light sugar control" has become the active demand of people’s diet. In 2023, the average daily search frequency of keywords such as "less oil", "less salt" and "less sugar" in Meituan takeaway increased significantly compared with 2021, and search terms related to "less sugar" increased by 901% year-on-year. In addition, the order volume of Chinese healthy food takeaway has experienced explosive growth. Data show that from 2019 to 2022, the year-on-year growth rate of orders in this category is 337%, 134% and 260% respectively.
In the context of the vigorous development of healthy consumption of catering, the continuous deepening of digitization of catering has also brought new development opportunities for the catering industry. The "Report" pointed out that the application of digitization in the catering field, from the consumer side, not only meets the needs of more convenient and efficient ordering and delivery services, but also provides more information on food safety, nutritional value and healthy choices. From the supply side, expanding the user radius, improving the quality of supply, and enhancing information reach all provide new opportunities for catering brands to serve healthy needs.
Launch the "Good Children’s Meal Plan" to promote healthier and better quality children’s meals
The popularity of children’s meals on takeaway platforms has also attracted more and more consumers to pay attention to the health issues of takeaway children’s meals. The "Report" pointed out that according to Meituan takeaway data in 2022, children’s meal orders increased by 300% year-on-year, and 54% of parents pay great attention to "variety of ingredients" and "sufficient fruits and vegetables" when choosing healthy foods for their children.
To this end, at the forum, Meituan Takeaway joined hands with People’s Daily Health client side, nutrition and health experts and representatives of catering merchants to jointly launch the "Beautiful Children’s Meal Plan". The plan will build a special area for quality children’s meals through the new live broadcast tool of Meituan Takeaway God; join hands with nutrition experts to create healthy menus, carry out theme workshops, and develop exclusive training courses for merchants; build a popular science dissemination position for children’s healthy meals through multiple channels and other methods to promote the development of children’s meals in a healthier and better quality direction.
Meituan takeaway "God Snatch" children’s meal area
The plan has aroused the response of the attending catering merchants. Meizhou Dongpo said that in terms of children’s meal configuration, Meizhou Dongpo has upgraded the ingredients on the basis of professional children’s meals. From the ratio, nutrition, composition and quality of ingredients, there are higher requirements to ensure the balance of nutrition and health of the meals. The guests of McDonald’s, Quanjude, Weixiaofan and cococean introduced the innovative measures in the 500-calorie set menu and Happy Paradise children’s meal, one-person small dish, and digital diet.
In addition to releasing the "Beautiful Children’s Meal Plan", Meituan Vice President Kai Li introduced that Meituan Takeaway has carried out continuous exploration in terms of demand insight, supply upgrade, health science popularization, and academic research in recent years in order to promote the healthy and quality development of takeout.
"The rise of the takeaway industry was originally to make it easier and faster for consumers to eat. With the improvement of the national economy, we should change from’eating well ‘to’eating well’." Chen Junshi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, a researcher at the National Food Safety threat and risk assessment center and general consultant of science and technology, said that it is encouraging that the takeaway industry is also constantly optimizing its services, including formulating a series of industry service standards, launching takeaway seals, environmentally friendly packaging and contactless delivery products. These norms and action changes have made the service of the takeaway industry match the consumer’s safe and healthy consumption needs, so that consumers can eat with confidence and eat healthily.
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