Food delivery staff collect orders from a cafe offering takeout only on Sunday after in-house dining was converted into delivery for the May Day holidays. Photo: VCG

 
Sales of takeout dishes saw a sharp increase as Beijing imposed a ban on in-house catering services from Sunday to Wednesday amid the latest COVID-19 flare-ups in the Chinese capital.

Beijing announced on Saturday that it will suspend its restaurants for offering in-house catering services starting from Sunday, after multiple infections were linked to restaurants around the city.

Despite the move deals a blow to the already battered food industry, which relies on the five-day-long May Day holiday as an important occasion to generate revenue, it has helped boost sales of takeout dishes as the municipal government called for residents to cook at home, the Global Times learnt.

An industry expert said the sales of takeout dishes as well as takeaway foods could help restaurants to recover up to 70 percent of the loss they incurred from being unable to offer dine-in service, adding that under the current situation, restaurants need to shift to such business models through the epidemic.

E-commerce platform Hema Fresh, Alibaba's fresh-food chain said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Sunday that sales of takeaway roast foods doubled on May 1 from the previous year.

Prepared kababs and seasoned steaks were top sellers during the holiday, the statement said, adding that sales of crayfish, deserts, and assorted fruits also doubled. Kung-pao chicken remained the top seller.

To cope with the perceived rise in express delivery orders, food delivery companyMeituan boosted its delivery personnel by 30 percent with an increase of 6-8 million yuan ($0.91-1.21 million)in subsidies, according to a statement the company sent to the Global Times on Sunday. To ensure the delivery of ordered foods from malls and supermarkets, an additional 50 percent of personnel was allocated and the platform also worked with in-house deliverymen from restaurants so as to share the delivery of orders and optimize capacity.

A restaurant in Maliandao in Xicheng district opens on Sunday offering only takeout orders during the May Day holidays. Photo: VCG

Meituan already opened up a green portal upon 24-hour-approval for catering services providers to connect their business to its platform to tap into Meituans delivery workforce and jointly worked with 176 restaurant brands to provide supplies of prepared foods to citizens to cater to high-quality dining demands.

Zhu Danpeng, a veteran food industry observer told the GlobalTimes on Sunday that prepared foods and takeaway were the hope for restaurants to sustain business operations and generate revenues during the epidemic, and nowadays even high-end restaurants, following in the footsteps of lesser-known players, are shifting toward these business models.

These efforts could reduce the impact of halting of in-door dining by up to 70 percent, Zhu said, citing a study his team had on some 30 restaurants.

Zhu said suspending in-door dining is a necessary sacrifice to contain the virus as traveling diners can prove to be a headache for epidemiological tracking.

A manager at Kaorouji, a time-honored restaurant under the Beijing food chain Jude Huatian Group, told the Global Times that dine-in service was called off on Saturday and customers now can easily place orders for their takeaway meals.

Prepared, takeaway food saw demand increase by 15-20 percent recently, the manager said.

A staffer at the Beijing Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant in Beijings Wangfujing area told the Global Times on Sunday that dine-in services were halted starting from Sunday and customers could order on delivery platforms or still pick up the food they ordered in person at the restaurant, having provided their health scan code and negative nucleic acid test results taken within less than 48 hours.

US supermarket chain Walmart, which has developed nearly 100 types of takeaway dishes such as home-cooked meals and hotpot, said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Sunday that sales of this category in epidemic-stricken cities were 300 percent higher than their usual levels.