Catering sector bounces back from shutdowns

Fully booked

In December, Hong 0871 Yunnan Cuisine Restaurant opened on the Bund in Shanghai, four years after its first branch in Beijing began operating.

Liu Xin, who owns the business, said that since the Shanghai branch opened, it has been popular among local customers, with all tables usually fully booked three days in advance.

The restaurant was closed from March to July, when large numbers of COVID-19 cases were reported in Shanghai, but business has since rebounded to around 80 percent of the pre-pandemic level, he said.

Liu said the Shanghai government has launched a series of measures, including tax relief and rent reductions, to stimulate the economy and help small businesses through difficult times.

"Shopping consumption coupons have also been introduced in Shanghai, which have helped attract more customers to our restaurant," he added.

In the first three days of this month, bookings at Chinese cuisine restaurant Cai Yi Xuan in Beijing, which has one Michelin star, reached about 90 percent, with most reservations made for family gatherings.

Single-day turnover on Oct 2 was nearly 200,000 yuan, according to Zhang Delong, the manager of Cai Yi Xuan.

Zhang said that before the National Day holiday, the restaurant prepared set menus for four to six people, priced between 2,560 and 3,160 yuan. These menus proved the most popular during the holiday.

"We change the dishes according to customers' needs. For example, some clients do not eat seafood, so we provide alternative dishes for the same price," he said.

Zhang said most clients visit the restaurant for business banquets. Before the pandemic emerged, they came to the outlet in person to check conditions at the business — especially the private rooms — before making a booking.

In May, a new wave of COVID-19 cases hit Beijing, with dine-in businesses in the capital shut down for more than a month. Zhang said that during this time, his team took high-resolution pictures of the restaurant from each corner so that customers could book a private room online without visiting the business in person to check hygiene conditions.

"We last took photos of our private rooms 10 years ago, when the business opened," Zhang said. "This time, the photos were taken in natural light so that customers could see conditions at the restaurant.

"We also launched an online system so that customers can order dishes when booking a private room," he said, adding that in the past three years, online sales at the restaurant have developed fast.

Zhang checks customer reviews of the business on Dazhongdianping each day. He not only replies to every comment, but also accepts some advice from the reviewers.

"A seasonal stewed oxtail with tomato dish received many good reviews, so we asked the chef to put this dish on our regular a la carte menu," he said.

"We now provide seasonal menus more often than before the pandemic emerged, as we always want our customers to have a new dining experience when they come to our restaurant," Zhang said, adding that chefs at the business are preparing a special menu for the hairy crab season.

Due to a combination of food and beverage consumption vouchers being issued in many places, an increase in summer travel and dining activities, and the online business transformation of catering enterprises, food and beverage revenue in August rose by 8.4 percent year-on-year. This compares with a 1.5 percent decline in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

For the first time since March, the restaurant revenue growth rate of 3.3 percent was higher than that for merchandise retail.