After Dong Mingzhu, is Jack Ma also entering the pre-packaged meal industry?

马云's entry has added fuel to the already booming market for pre-packaged meals.

According to media reports, on November 22nd, Hangzhou Daijingtou 22 Cultural and Art Co., Ltd. established a wholly-owned subsidiary called Hangzhou Majia Kitchen Food Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 10 million yuan. The equity structure of the former company shows that Ma Yun holds 99.9% of the shares.

The related information also shows that Majia Kitchen's business scope includes food sales (only pre-packaged food), food internet sales (only pre-packaged food), initial processing of edible agricultural products, wholesale and retail of edible agricultural products, etc. The legal representative is PAU JASON JOHN.

In recent years, the pre-packaged meal industry has been developing rapidly, and not only Ma Yun, but Dong Mingzhu has also expressed interest in the field of pre-packaged meals.

On July 4th, Dong Mingzhu appeared at the first Pre-packaged Meal Equipment Industry Conference held in Zhuhai, expressing her expectations for the pre-packaged meal field: "In the future, we hope to further integrate pre-packaged meal equipment and the pre-packaged meal industry, and bring China's delicious cuisine to the world, making the world fall in love with the taste of China."

This layout has been planned for a long time

Ma Yun's move to layout the pre-packaged meal industry is not sudden.

According to enterprise information, Hangzhou Daijingtou 22 Cultural and Art Co., Ltd. was established in 2019. In December of last year, its registered capital was increased from 10 million yuan to 100 million yuan.

In July of this year, Hangzhou Daijingtou 22 Cultural and Art Co., Ltd. invested in Yimiba Haiyang Technology (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd., entering the field of aquaculture and other tracks. The latter's business scope includes sales of intelligent logistics equipment for agricultural products, manufacturing of equipment for marine aquaculture and marine biological resource utilization, professional and auxiliary activities in the fishing industry, intelligent agricultural management, supply chain management services, etc.

Currently, "Yimiba" Haiyang Technology Co., Ltd. has already made some moves in the industry. According to the official website of Shengsi County People's Government in Zhejiang, on November 22nd, the county successfully introduced Alibaba Group's "Yimiba" Haiyang Technology Co., Ltd. to participate in the construction of the "Yibei Industrial Park" in Ganxie Village, Qiyi Township.

It is worth noting that among the shareholders of Yimiba Haiyang Technology Co., Ltd., there are several Alibaba executives, including Hu Xiaoming, who has served as CEO of Ant Group and President of Alibaba Cloud, and Deng Zhonghua, the company's director and general manager.

Ma Yun himself has shown a strong interest in agricultural products, marine products, and the fishing industry in recent years.

This is particularly evident in the fishing industry. In the past two years, Ma Yun has visited the Netherlands, Japan, Thailand, and other places to investigate multiple agricultural and fishing projects. In July of last year, Ma Yun visited Wageningen University to exchange and discuss new technologies in animal husbandry and fishing. In May of this year, the University of Tokyo announced the appointment of Ma Yun as a visiting professor at "Tokyo College," stating that Ma Yun will provide advice and support on major research topics, including sustainable agriculture and food production.It seems that Jack Ma's entry into the pre-packaged food industry may just be the latest move in his foray into the agricultural and fishery food industry chain.

The concept of pre-packaged food has gained popularity since 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a "golden period" of rapid development for the industry, making it a competitive field for many companies.

Gree's venture into the "cooking" industry has always been a hot topic of discussion. In October last year, Gree officially announced the establishment of the Guangdong Pre-Packaged Food Equipment Industry Development Association during the "Chinese Farmers' Harvest Festival". Gree Electric Appliances will provide supporting specialized manufacturing, storage, and transportation refrigeration equipment for upstream and downstream companies in the pre-packaged food industry.

In July this year, Dong Mingzhu, the CEO of Gree, stated at the First Pre-Packaged Food Equipment Industry Conference that the company's initial intention in entering the pre-packaged food industry was to provide consumers with affordable and high-quality products and to help farmers increase production and income.

Since the beginning of this year, with the strong promotion by the central government, the concept of pre-packaged food has gained even more popularity. In February this year, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Doing a Good Job in Key Tasks for Comprehensive Rural Revitalization in 2023", which clearly stated the need to "improve the standardization and standardization level of the fresh vegetable and central kitchen industries, and cultivate and develop the pre-packaged food industry."

According to reports, the penetration rate of pre-packaged food in the United States and Japan has exceeded 60% in 2021, while in China it is only around 13%. Data from iMedia Research shows that the market size of China's pre-packaged food market reached 419.6 billion yuan in 2022, a year-on-year growth of 21.3%, and it is expected to reach 1.072 trillion yuan by 2026.

Overall, the pre-packaged food industry has the potential to become a trillion-dollar market with enormous development space. However, there are currently no leading companies in the industry, and it is still a blue ocean. Whether for home appliance giants or e-commerce giants, the layout of pre-packaged food has become an important direction for their diversified development.