Hunter McGregor managed to find some NZ beef in City Super, a high end supermarket in Shanghai.
“...There is no demand from the chefs or consumers for this beef to be from New Zealand.”
This is a major problem, as without a super star brand, how do you create interest? I have spent the past six years working very hard to position Mountain River venison as a premium product in China. We have built plenty of credibility because we are on menus, unfortunately not all year round, of many of the top restaurants around China. Both Te Mana and Coastal Lamb brands are doing a great job of lifting the profile of NZ lamb in China. They are both high quality brands that open doors for the entire NZ lamb industry. How can NZ beef be positioned as a premium product, without being sold in any of the top steak houses or restaurants in the most influential Chinese market in Shanghai? I don’t see how it can be, but I hope I am missing something.
Beef supply issues Consistency of supply is a major issue. I hear it all the time from all restaurants when they talk about products. A commonly held myth is that Chinese businesses have “long term thinking”. The reality could not be further from the truth. Recently, I was in a meeting with a chef of a very high profile restaurant in Shanghai. They just added a NZ
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beef cut on to their menu, and after two weeks of starting, the supplier was out of stock for the next month or so. They double checked before starting, if the supplier had enough stock on hand in China. The answer was yes. I hear this all the time, as a lot of suppliers only sell for today's sale and don’t worry about tomorrow. Unfortunately in this case the chef will most likely not use NZ beef again because of this bad experience. I have heard many stories like this about the consistency of NZ beef supply over the years. This happens with most imported products and it’s not just a NZ beef issue. Another high profile restaurant group owner told me they are trying to remove beef as much as possible from all of their restaurants because of supply issues. However, they don’t use NZ beef. China is a big market and there are plenty of opportunities for NZ beef to find its place. One thing for sure it is going to take a lot of hard work on the ground to get things moving in the right direction. The exciting thing is that the market moves fast and anything is possible. • Hunter McGregor is a Chinese-speaking Kiwi based in Shanghai selling NZ meat into China.
Country-Wide Beef
May 2021