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November 20, 2020

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Report urges caterers to explore retail channels

By Ding Yining | 00:05 UTC+8 November 20, 2020 | Print Edition

Caterers are advised to focus on their strengths while offering pre-cooked meals and packaged food through retail channels, according to a joint report by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association and domestic consultancy New Catering Big Data.

“Many caterers are fully leveraging their brand awareness to transform popular dishes into retail consumer products,” said Wang Hongdong, founder of New Catering Big Data.

In the first three quarters, revenue of China’s catering industry was down 23.9 percent from a year earlier to 2.52 trillion yuan (US$383.1 billion), according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

In October, catering revenue was 437.2 billion yuan, leaving the growth rate positive for the first time this year at a 0.8 percent pace.

The booming Internet industry and digitalization trend has offered new opportunities for the catering business.

According to a survey of 71 domestic catering groups by the CCFA earlier this year, 90 percent of caterers started to offer takeaway service after the novel coronavirus outbreak and 46 percent half-prepared meals.

Catering groups should focus on a selected number of hit products instead of offering a large variety of product lines in the initial stage, according to the joint report.

Most restaurants have strong brand awareness among shoppers and also rich supply chain and marketing capabilities, but they still face challenges such as shortages in retailing experience and talent, the report points out.

Demand for pre-cooked food and ready-to-heat meals boomed after the pandemic outbreak.

The popularity of delivery service also allows restaurants to sell packaged food to online shoppers who are not necessarily frequent diners.

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