A 6000 yuan wedding banquet may only cost 1196 yuan! After the wedding, the groom felt depressed about the dishes | hotel | wedding banquet

After a lively wedding,

The groom Zheng Liang couldn't be happy for any reason,

Just because someone came to attend the wedding

A sentence from a novel

They are all pre made dishes,

It's better to go back to the countryside to do it, it's fresh and affordable.

As a newcomer,

After working hard for several months,

In exchange for a small comment,

It made Zheng Liang very depressed,

Each table costs nearly 6000 yuan,

Unexpectedly, I fell into the category of dishes.

70% of the 16 dishes are pre made

The reporter learned that Zheng Liang lives in Dayuan Town, Fuyang. In order to leave an unforgettable wedding banquet for his family and friends, he specially chose the banquet package of 5988 yuan from a well-known hotel in the city, which is also the most expensive part of the hotel.

And since he was young, he has been engaged in the catering industry for six or seven years, and has a very thorough understanding of the way banquet dishes are cooked. Therefore, when he said the opening sentence, he didn't expect the speaker to be unintentional and interested, so Zheng Liang became more serious.

"We later calculated that except for a few types of seafood and seasonal vegetables, most of them are pre made dishes that can be purchased online. Steaming them and placing them on a plate is not cost-effective enough." Zheng Liang presented the menu to the reporter.

Pictures provided by respondents on the 5988 yuan menu of well-known hotels

The reporter noticed that the name of each dish in the menu has been carefully polished by the merchants, which means that many consumers will be impressed with the beauty of the day, the happy cranes, and the pastoral scenery.

However, as a crucial moment for many consumers, a wedding banquet is not enough just to have a beautiful name, but also requires the taste buds of guests to give the final answer.

Snowflake Beef Granules, Taobao Buyers Image According to Taobao website

"Look at this' simmered snowflake beef 'over low heat, it's all pre marinated and frozen, with a soft texture and no beef flavor." Zheng Liang told reporters that he made dishes with many friends and family, and when he found out that his table of dishes cost 6000 yuan, he felt it was beyond consideration.

"At least 70% of this menu is pre made, exclusively provided by hotels, and the purchase price is very cheap, but the specific dish names are not easy to say. Zheng Liang's childhood friend revealed to reporters that low cost, fast serving, and high quality control have been the main reasons for the increasing number of pre made dishes used in hotel banquets in recent years. The consequence is that most people have no expectations for banquets, and are completely doing a task like" check-in "." I attended three weddings this month, although different hotels, I have a rough idea of what dishes and flavors will be served on the next plate. Anyway, I have no interest in these dishes, and I have to go home and have another meal every time I finish them. "

Which hotels prefer to use pre made dishes?

These hotels specialize in pre made dishes

Where did it come from?

Prefabricated dishes usually selected by hotels

What are they all?

The reporter interviewed relevant hotels

And several merchants in the agricultural capital city of Gongshu District.

A banquet worth 6000 yuan

The merchant only needs 1196 yuan to complete the delivery

The reporter provided two merchants with a menu priced at 5988 yuan, citing 30 tables of wine served at home in rural areas, and handed it over to the other party for side dishes.

"Four types of fresh food, Dongxing Ban 150 yuan/jin, Jiwei Shrimp 88 yuan/jin, Aolong 258 yuan/piece, and Turtle 200 yuan/piece, totaling 696 yuan. According to the standard table size of 10 people, other finished dishes can be sold for less than 500 yuan." A merchant told reporters that he claims to be a supplier of many star rated hotels, with a large shipment volume. If a deposit can be paid, the price can still be negotiated.

Another merchant stated that fresh goods are priced at the current price, and there may be some fluctuations in delivery prices on the day of the banquet. However, he estimated that at around 1500 yuan, all the dishes on the 5988 yuan menu can be matched.

Prefabricated large yellow croaker Yu Yebo / photo

"If the price of fresh food is high on the same day, you can choose the frozen category, which has a similar taste but is much cheaper. Taking Dongxingban as an example, it can save at least half of the price." The merchant pointed to the frozen dishes in the freezer and said, "You can also use flat East China Sea yellow croaker, which costs 65 yuan per piece, all of which are marinated. Steam it and add some scallions, ginger, and garlic to serve.".

In the freezer, there are a variety of prefabricated dishes, such as jellyfish heads, Buddha jumps over the wall, large and small yellow croakers, abalone, pig elbows, sweet and sour ribs... If you take them apart and cook them, you can probably fill a table with dishes in tens of minutes, and then the chef will add sauce, flavor, and color to the table. Guess how much it costs?

Menu of Jintang Prefabricated Products by Yu Yebo/Photo

In addition, delicious abalone soup and shark fin soup are sold in bags here, with a retail price of 108 yuan for ten people in the market. Many packaging bags are labeled as "hotel only". "Prefabricated soup, steak, steamed fish, roast duck, pig trotters, and other dishes are the most popular, with low cost and high quality. In the first half of the year alone, thousands of bags were given to hotels as banquet dishes." said the merchant owner.

What would the hotel say about such a large quantity of pre made dishes being supplied to major hotels?

The reporter called the banquet reservation numbers of several popular hotels in Hangzhou of different grades. Except for one sales representative who responded with "we do have a few steamed dishes, but there are no pre made dishes", all others denied that their hotel has pre made dishes. So, where have these dishes gone?

Regarding this argument, industry insiders have pointed out that regardless of the size of the restaurant, pre made dishes are always a hurdle that cannot be avoided.

How to avoid it? On the one hand, it depends on the menu pricing. Generally, a banquet priced at 3000 to 4000 yuan per table in a star rated hotel can be considered a "disaster zone" for pre made dishes; On the other hand, it also depends on the hotel brand. High end hotels have strong funds, support a large team of chefs, and cultivate their own audience. Many of these hotels will establish their own unique cuisine and then export it as pre made dishes from other hotels. There are many examples.

Don't overly rely on pre made dishes

And lose their culinary essence

A banquet salesperson who declined to be named told reporters that the pandemic in the past three years has forced many hotels to maintain their daily operations by reducing staff and operating costs. Prefabricated dishes are a good model, which can save personnel expenses while also achieving low storage costs. The dishes only need to be frozen and can be stored for several months.

In addition, many consumers choose hotels to host banquets just to save time. Here, the venue, stage design, and labor are all available, and transportation and accommodation are convenient. The owner does not have to worry about these things.

In recent years, with the development of freshness locking technology and cold chain technology, pre made dishes have indeed ushered in a spring of development. Although there are many advantages, the author believes that pre made dishes were originally intended for convenience. However, now that the epidemic has passed and consumption has recovered, if high priced banquet still brings low-priced pre made dishes, will the hotel lose its culinary essence?

In rural Zhejiang, red and white banquets are collectively referred to as "drinking" in many places. Every time the children are chasing and frolicking, they follow the scent to the "temporary kitchen" and sneak into the cold dishes that have already been laid out. They watch the old chef under the oilcloth paper greenhouse use a simple stove to roll a spoon and then pour a large pot of finished dishes into a pre prepared stainless steel basin. With the help of pairing and packaging, they use a wooden tray to serve bowls of simple but appetizing dishes to the round table. The children then serve them to the table and enjoy.

Perhaps young and inexperienced, the red nylon tablecloth lacks water, land, and delicacies, nor any fancy dishes, but the taste is surprisingly good.