How much profit can there be?, Hot pot restaurant sells "fake lamb rolls"

Banu hotpot, which proposed the concept of "productism," was also planted on fake lamb rolls.

Recently, a blogger revealed on social media that out of the 6 boxes of meat ingredients he purchased for 98 yuan at the Chaodao Beijing Heshenghui store, 4 boxes of "high calcium lamb rolls" were found to contain duck meat.

On the evening of September 7th, Banu Hot Pot's official Weibo account released a statement acknowledging that its sub brand, Super Island, did indeed contain duck meat in its lamb rolls. It paid 8.354 million yuan to consumers and cancelled Super Island's independent procurement rights, terminating cooperation with the product supplier involved.

On September 8th, Du Tam, the son of Du Zhongbing, the founder of Chaodao Self selected Hot Pot and the founder of Banu, appeared in the live broadcast room to apologize and conducted a live broadcast of customer service compensation. That night, according to multiple media reports, the Market Supervision Bureau of Chaoyang District, Beijing launched an investigation into the involved stores.

On September 8th, the founder of Chaodao Self selected Hot Pot appeared in the live broadcast room to apologize.

Where does "fake lamb" come from?

"The main label of Banu Hot Pot is quality, so this incident has caused great damage to its reputation, especially if it wants to impact an IPO in the future, it will have adverse effects. Therefore, Banu will spare no effort to recover all losses," Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng told China News Finance.

According to the information disclosed by the blogger who initially exposed this matter, when purchasing lamb rolls, the staff of Chaodao clearly stated that the main food raw materials in the store are uniformly distributed by Banu Central Kitchen, and the full name of the company is Xingyun Infinite Catering Co., Ltd. The bulletin board inside Chaodao store only shows the source of the raw materials as "Banu Central Kitchen Unified Distribution".

But in the statement released by Chaodao Self selected Hot Pot on September 5th, the lamb dishes involved were independently purchased by Chaodao and supplied by Zhengzhou Senang Trading Co., Ltd. The manufacturer was Jiuzhouyuan Food Processing Factory in Chaoyang Township, Shuangcheng District, Harbin City.

Obviously, there are contradictions between the statements of the store staff involved and the public statements made by Chaodao, and the source of "fake lamb" points to suppliers and processing companies.

It is worth noting that similar situations are not the first to occur.

At the beginning of last month, it was exposed that mutton rolls sold by several Zhang Liang Spicy Hot Pot stores were "mixed with pork and duck". In this regard, Zhang Liang Spicy Hot Pot said in the announcement that "adulterated mutton" was bought by franchise stores without permission; But the store purchased the inspection ingredients at the market price of real lamb, and there is no subjective intention of knowing and selling fake products. This statement also points the source of "fake lamb" to the suppliers of franchise stores.

So, where does the "fake lamb" in the hands of suppliers come from?

Mutton adulteration

How much money can a hot pot restaurant earn?

In fact, mixed rolls of lamb mixed with pork and duck are not uncommon.

Zhongxin Finance has noticed that multiple e-commerce platforms sell lamb and beef mixed rolls made from duck meat, and most of the sales links are labeled as "hotpot, barbecue, and buffet for commercial use". In addition, there is also the so-called "conditioning meat roll", which means that it is not mixed with other meats, but is made by splicing meat pieces and adding water to make tender meat.

According to a review by Zhongxin Finance, beef and mutton rolls mixed with duck meat are relatively cheap, with prices generally ranging from 7 to 15 yuan/jin; The price of seasoned meat rolls is slightly expensive, usually ranging from 12 to 30 yuan/jin; The price of pure lamb rolls on the same platform is basically between 45-60 yuan/jin.

Calculated at a selling price of 80 yuan/jin for Chaodao hotpot lamb, the price difference is not particularly high. If purchasing a mixed roll of lamb, based solely on the prices listed in the journalist's article, the store may profit up to 73 yuan per kilogram of lamb.

Mixed duck meat rolls sold on e-commerce platforms.

So, are there any differences in taste and appearance between lamb mixed with duck meat and pure lamb?

"There will definitely be some differences in taste and appearance," a seller of "mixed meat" told China News Finance that its mixed meat is made by mixing duck meat and beef and mutton fat. "The lean meat in the beef roll is duck meat, and the fat is beef fat. It tastes like beef, but it is not the same."

"Lamb rolls are round rolls, while beef rolls are square bricks, which are pressed tighter. Compared to lamb rolls, beef rolls are stronger and basically do not come loose," the merchant said.

A "pure meat roll" that hides its identity

So, are these imitation lamb rolls and imitation fat beef rolls legal?

Zhu Danpeng pointed out, "Selling mixed meat is allowed, but there are strict regulations."

According to the Food Safety Law and GB 7718 General Rules for Labeling of Prepackaged Food, meat products must pass inspection and quarantine, and the content indicated on the product label must clearly indicate the ingredients.

In fact, with the high prices of lamb running for many years, replacing pure lamb with mixed meat has become a choice for many restaurants.

Although the mixed meat rolls and seasoned meat rolls sold on e-commerce platforms have detailed descriptions of their ingredients, their true identities are not only hidden but even transformed into "pure meat rolls" in hotpot restaurants, barbecues, and self-service restaurants after unpacking.

So, mixed meat is in an awkward situation in the market: producers know, sellers know, but consumers don't know, and regulatory authorities find it difficult to inspect.

"The reason why such incidents continue to be banned is due to businesses' pursuit of maximizing profits." Zhu Danpeng believes that in order to further eliminate this phenomenon, stricter standards need to be established.

Zhongxin Finance has noticed that some places are currently putting the development of mixed meat group standards on the agenda. For example, in February this year, the Market Supervision Bureau of Yangxin County, Binzhou, Shandong Province held a symposium on the standards of mixed meat production enterprises, discussing the production status, difficulties, problems encountered, future development space, standardized production, and other issues of mixed meat production enterprises.