A chef shows prepared food for a set menu for the Spring Festival dinner at a restaurant in Yinchuan, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on Sunday. In response to the call of staying put during the holidays, eating at home may be a popular choice for many families to reduce the risks of infection. Photo: cnsphoto

As the Chinese New Year festival draws near, sales of holiday-related meals - a Lunar New Year's eve tradition - are soaring online and in stores. Sales rose four to five times from last year after the government encouraged people to stay put during the holidays, to prevent virus spread. 

Searches for China's "New Year's Eve dinner" have risen as popular keywords online. On the mobile app of food delivery firm Eleme.com, such searches have surged four times year-on-year.

With the public consumption of holiday food seeing an unprecedented rebound, businesses are launching new products and services, giving easy access to their hometown delicacies.

The number of pre-made meals ordered is up 10 percent year-on-year, according to e-commerce platform Hema Fresh run by Alibaba Group. More than 1,000 sets were sold in the first two weeks in Shanghai, of which 60 percent were small sets to feed four to six people. It is estimated that about 4,000 to 5,000 sets will be sold ahead of the holiday.

Walmart's instant meal category is up more than fivefold in sales from last year, with the fast pace of cities fueling an increase in convenience food consumption, according to a report that the company sent to the Global Times.

The US retailer's signature product for the Chinese New Year - Coke Roast Chicken - sold more than 100,000 dishes in a month after its launch.

Sales of prepared dumplings are up seven times, and sales of chocolate desserts made for New Year's Eve are in the millions of yuan.

The popularity of semi-finished food is driven not only by the stay-in-place policy but also people's changing dining habits, from family gatherings to smaller gatherings, driven by the need for virus prevention, Zhao Jingqiao, director of the Service Economy and Catering Industry Research Center under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"How to better cope with booming local demand for the holiday meal will be a new challenge and competitive point to businesses," said Zhao.

China's online retail sales have exceeded 510 billion yuan ($78.8 billion) since the launch of the 2021 online shopping festival for the Spring Festival which lasted from January 20 to February 3, with online catering sales up 40 percent from the same period last year, Beijing Business Today reported.

Global Times