Introducing a new cuisine to a foreign land is challenging. In my business model, I plan to introduce ceviche to the Chinese. This dish is less prevalent in the region as many people eat cooked and less sour fish. However, some Chinese have adopted eating raw fish in sushi through the neighboring Japanese cuisine. The ceviche would be cured with less lemon and accompanied by sweet potatoes or bread to balance the acidity, making it a viable product. As a new dish, there is less competition in the Chinese market, it attracts food enthusiasts to have a new taste, and is highly nutritious. It will be a problem when the Chinese find it hard to adapt to the sourness of the food and not be open to the new taste. This paper gives an in-depth SWOT analysis of the introduction of ceviche to Chinese cuisine.
One of the significant strengths of this business is the providence of healthy quality food, which offers a significant market advantage. The ceviche is nutritious seafood full of vitamins A, E, D, and K and packed with protein necessary for bodybuilding and repairing tissues. Nonetheless, the ceviche is served on the same day, which is undoubtedly fresh food. For the Chinese to adapt to it, it is served with sweet potatoes or sweet corn, which balances out the sourness. One would use less vinegar or lemon juice and more milk and plant oil to reduce the sourness; and therefore, the food would be tasty to the Chinese. Additionally, as a marketing advantage, ceviche is categorized as an ethnic cuisine in China in which people are fond of new tastes. As the food is a new taste to the Chinese, the product is twisted from the traditional sourly-cured ceviche to a less sour dish which the Chinese would love and appreciate. The idea of ethnic cuisine is exciting and a bait to attract consumers as it is also a nutritious dish.
Furthermore, it is also an opportunity for the product to prosper in the market as something that is less common and has fewer competitors. There are fewer, close to zero, places that serve ceviche in China. Less competition increases the possibility of more demand when people like the product. Therefore, there is a need for proper marketing through social media to create awareness of the new product. One of the ways to market it is through an Instagram page showing people how to eat it with other accompaniments. The content can also consist of preparation techniques to show people how the raw food is prepared in a way it ensures cleanliness, which is a concern for most Chinese with eating raw food. Additionally, the closeness to the sea is an opportunity to provide fresh ceviche to the people. The needed assurance in the cleanliness of the raw food and freshness is easy to give by the opportunity to market its preparation and closeness to the seashore.
The weakness of this product is that one has to use lemon to cure the fish, which guarantees acidity to the dish, and the Chinese familiarity with other local dishes poses a threat to the business’s competitive advantage and marketing strategy. As much as we try to reduce the sourness, the adaptability of the Chinese to the food will take time. Typically, the raw fish must be cured with lemon or vinegar and other additives like cilantro to add flavor. Nonetheless, to make it less spicy, the fish can be cured with vinegar, garlic, and ginger, which takes away the authentic experience of the traditional ceviche. Additionally, the Chinese are used to less sour food, and their adaptability to ceviche will be an issue no matter how reduced the sourness is. Familiarity with local foods influences the ability of people to accept a new dish. This adaptability poses a threat to the business. Therefore, the need to cure the fish to make it sour is a weakness in Chinese cuisine, which threatens the product’s marketing.
Selling ceviche is unsung in the Chinese market. The product’s strengths are that it is a foreign dish that gives it an upper hand in marketing to entice consumers and is highly nutritious. The preparation can also be altered to fit Chinese cuisine by reducing its acidity and using more milk and plant oil to enable the Chinese to eat it. Nonetheless, the closeness to the ocean poses an excellent opportunity to enable the preparation of fresh food. It reduces the shipping cost, thus reducing expenses. The product is unpopular in China, which decreases the number of competitors giving the business an added advantage. However, there is a need for proper marketing where content creators and food critics in China can spread awareness about ceviche. Moreover, the use of social media platforms like Instagram assists in marketing. As a weakness, ceviche has to be sour, which the Chinese are not used to, and that poses a threat as many of them would choose to stick to their local cuisine. However, the business will prosper as the strengths outweigh the weaknesses.