China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Light meal biz does heavy lifting of health
Segment grows as fitness-lovers savor salads, eggs, bars and smoothies
It has been nearly a year since Chen Chu, 35, a financial consultant in Beijing, began underlining the quality of food intake as the key to good health and fitness. Three light meals, characterized by salads, low-calorie smoothies, boiled eggs and corns, are all that Chen consumes every day, throughout the year.
They don’t come cheap, by the way. Therein hangs a fascinating tale — one of the rising business of light meals in China.
An avocado-and-chicken salad sets Chen back by at least 50 yuan ($7.85). A special smoothie costs another 30 yuan. In all, a light meal might cost up to 80 yuan. Stated differently, on average Chen spends about 150 yuan per day — 54,000 yuan per year — on carefully selected light meals.
In China, there are an estimated 10 million consumers such as Chen, particularly in urban areas, who see great value in light meals, according to market research firms.
“The reason that drives me to stick to such eating habits is that I realized only these can make me feel healthy, especially when I have to deal with high-pressure work situations on a sustained basis,” Chen said.
A growing number of white-collar employees in China now opt for lowcalorie, healthy and high-quality lifestyles, industry insiders said.
Consumers such as Chen are willing to pay extra for light foods, a concept spawned by the afternoon tea culture in Europe in the 17th century and refers to food with low sugar, fat or salt, exemplified by salads.
According to market consultancy New Catering Big Data, sales revenue of the country’s salad market exceeded 9 billion yuan last year, with consumers growing from 11.8 million in 2020 to 18.2 million in 2021.
The past few years also witnessed a new trend of consumers willing to spend big on meal replacement, which refers to products like drinks, energy bars and soups, which are intended as substitutes for main courses.
In the past five years, China’s meal replacement market quickly expanded at an average annual growth rate of over 30 percent, and sales are expected to reach 120 billion yuan by the end of this year, according to market consultancy Euromonitor International.
With such high growth rates, investors have been more than willing to back businesses in the segment. From 2018 to 2021, firms in the light meal sector saw several rounds of funding, according to Zero2IPO Research, a financial services data provider.
Last year, startups such as Dongchi, Smeal and Ffit8 received big injections from investors, including some renowned players such as MatrixPartners China and IDG Capital.
“The growing popularity of the meal replacement market is mainly because more consumers are increasingly aware of their health, and afraid of gaining weight or getting serious diseases,” said Jason Yu, general manager of market consultancy Kantar Worldpanel Greater China.
Chronic conditions such as insomnia, obesity and diseases related to unhealthy lifestyles are becoming more common among younger and middle-aged Chinese.
A report from the British Medical Journal said the prevalence of diabetes in China, for instance, has reached 2 percent among people aged 18 to 29, and 6.3 percent among those aged 30 to 39.
“Also, many of them face more pressure from life and work, which forces them to care more about their health. Widening social media channels increase their anxiety as well and make them more aware of it,” Yu said.
The market, he said, got more impetus after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak as more and more people began to pay attention to appearance, weight and health management.
Market consultancy iiMedia Research said that another major consumer group in the meal replacement market is mainly women who want to lose weight and keep fit. They usually choose meal replacement products, including chicken breast and protein bars.
According to a research report from Meituan, a Chinese integrated platform for delivery services and shared mobility solutions, 70 percent of consumers of meal-replacement products are female, and those born between the 1980s and 1990s account for 40 percent of all consumption.
Li Hongcan, 26, a product manager based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, said that as a bodybuilder, she drinks a bottle of probiotic yogurt every two days and munches on a muesli energy bar during her work break.
“For me, eating a protein bar is like enjoying snacks. It packs in the right amount of calories and nutrients, which is an ideal way for me to keep in shape,” she said.
Consumption of such groups can be huge. For instance, in 2020, the latest year for which data are available, there were 70.29 million gym members in China, with a penetration rate of 4.87 percent. Penetration rate is a measure of how much a product or service is being used by consumers compared to the total estimated market.
As meal replacement products continue to gain popularity, more startups as well as traditional food giants are jumping on the health food bandwagon. China Mengniu Dairy Co, for instance, introduced a milk variety that can help slowburn body fat.
Companies are planning various innovations to attract more consumers. For instance, Smeal Biotechnology Co Ltd, founded in 2020 in Shanghai, received instant consumer backing on Nov 11 — Singles Day, a popular online-andoffline shopping festival in China. It sold 1 million bottles of its flagship smoothie powders on Tmall, an online marketplace of Alibaba Group.
Unlike other smoothie meal replacement products, the Shanghaicompany mainly offers powders, enabling consumers to add water to make meal-replacement beverages, just like bartenders.
In addition, the company beefed up its efforts to diversify flavors so as to make meal-replacement products tastier.
It boasts more than 10 flavors across different products, including matcha, chocolate and black sesame, which is embedded with some Chinese characteristics and is said to be popular among Chinese consumers.
“For new categories like meal replacements, it is hard to retain consumers. The only thing that can keep consumers loyal is innovation in products, including formulas, nutrition and taste,” said Cao Peng, founder of Smeal.
While some brands have hit pay dirt, others have hit road bumps. Element Fresh, a Shanghai-based chain that serves healthy foods, including salad and some meal-replacement foods, filed for bankruptcy protection in December.
Industry insiders said the sector has not yet formed mature and unified standards, and there is a lack of scientific and reasonable guidance on meal replacement products.
“Not all meal replacements advertised in the market can completely replace normal meals. And many consumers don’t know how to eat such products in a proper way,” said Zhang Tian, a nutritionist at the Aviation General Hospital of China Medical University, in a media interview.
Chen Momo, vice-president of VisionPlus Capital, said millennials have options other than meal replacements to lose weight and get fitter. For example, they can choose healthier lifestyles, like cooking their own meals and working out. Such an approach can also produce benefits that meal replacement products offer, Chen said.