Catering industry： Stores are suspended, takeaway delivery is increased, and favorable policies are expected
On February 3, a delivery staff drove in the May Day business district of Changsha. Xinhua News Agency reporter, photographed by Chen Zeguo
Faced with the sudden epidemic, all walks of life have been affected, and the catering industry has been the first to bear the brunt. Especially during the Spring Festival, catering enterprises have stocked up on a large number of ingredients in advance, forming a backlog and suffering large losses. Increasing takeout has become one of the effective measures for catering enterprises to ease the pressure on their operations. In order to support catering enterprises to tide over the difficulties and restore confidence, local governments are encouraged to provide local catering enterprises with water and electricity subsidies and reduce various municipal and regional charges; banks are encouraged to provide catering enterprises with government discount loans for more than one year.
At noon on February 6, the reporter came to the Huaxi LIVE specialty shopping street in Wukesong, Beijing, and found that many restaurants were posted with "Suspension of Business" notices on the doors. Several restaurants were open, and there were very few customers. The hot scene of queuing up for seats in the past no longer existed.
Since January 20, in order to fight the COVID-19 epidemic, almost all dinners and banquets in many places across the country have been cancelled. The catering industry, which was supposed to be hot during the Spring Festival, has become one of the industries that have been hit hard.
Many restaurants suffered losses
The Spring Festival is generally the peak season of the catering industry, but affected by the epidemic, this year’s Spring Festival catering industry felt a chill.
Statistics from Beijing Huatian Food group company show that affected by the epidemic, the New Year’s Eve dinner cancellation rate of each company’s stores is relatively high. The average cancellation rate of New Year’s Eve dinner in private dining stores directly under the group is about 50%, and the cancellation rate in the hall is higher. At present, the banquets in the first month are basically unsubscribed.
"During the Spring Festival, more than 5,000 banquets were cancelled in the nine Chinese restaurants of Hongxing Restaurant," said Wang Yongmei, deputy general manager of Chengdu Hongxing Restaurant Co., Ltd.
Reporters learned that not only the New Year’s Eve dinner, the recent impact of the epidemic can not operate normally catering enterprises are not a few. Chen Xiaorong, assistant to the president of the old uncle catering Co., Ltd., told reporters that the current old uncle more than 300 chain stores, due to the need for epidemic control has closed more than 100, the remaining 195 restaurants are also in abnormal business, and most of them are takeaway.
Shu Congxuan, chairperson of Fellow Chicken, also said that Fellow Chicken has more than 100 stores in Wuhan, all of which are now closed. The number of closed stores in Anhui and Nanjing also exceeds 100, and new stores are closed every day. The turnover of stores still open is only 25% to 33% of normal.
Affected by the epidemic, the attendance rate of large and small restaurants has plummeted since January 20.
"In our cost structure, the comprehensive cost of labor accounts for 30%, which is the majority." According to Jia Guolong, chairperson of Xibei Catering, the dine-in business of more than 400 Xibei Naked Noodle Village in more than 60 cities has basically been suspended, and only more than 100 takeout businesses have been retained. However, the volume of takeout is very small, only 5% to 10% of normal revenue.
Zong Zhiwei, secretary general ** the ******* Cuisine Association, said that in the face ** the sudden epidemic, all walks ** life across the country have been greatly affected, and the catering industry is the first to bear the brunt. Especially during the ****** Festival, catering companies have stocked up on a large number ** ingredients in advance, forming a backlog and losing a lot.
"Business has continued to decline in the past few days. It may be that after the company returns to work, the order volume of takeout will increase, but the status of dine-in food will not improve in the short term." Chen Xiaorong said that February will be the most difficult time for the catering industry.
Multiple measures to fight the epidemic
The menacing epidemic has brought the catering industry, which should have been in the golden period of operation, to a major test. Take Huatian’s time-honored enterprises as an example. Most of the enterprises such as Qingfeng Baozi Shop, Huguo Temple Snacks, Eryouju, and Tongheju are mass catering, which are veritable people’s canteens. They also undertake tasks such as canteens of some government agencies and breakfast for sanitation workers.
How to strictly do a good job in epidemic prevention and control inside and outside the store, while ensuring the living needs of residents and the normal operation of the city? Jia Feiyue, general manager of Beijing Huatian food group company, said in an interview with the Economic Daily reporter that after the epidemic occurred, Huatian Group established an epidemic prevention and control leading group for the first time, and put forward "no store closure, no shortage of goods, no price increase" in the group’s time-honored enterprises. In order to guide the public to respond to the government’s call to eat at home, reduce the frequency of going out, and reduce the chance of infection, the time-honored enterprises have also introduced measures such as reducing delivery fees.
In order to reduce the direct loss of purchasing ingredients during the Spring Festival, many catering companies such as Fengzeyuan, Meizhou Dongpo, Quanjude, etc. have set up "vegetable stalls". Wang Gang, founder of Meizhou Dongpo, admitted that selling stored fresh fruits and vegetables to consumers at a price close to the people can not only reduce store losses, but also is likely to be a kind of industry reshaping, such as providing consumers with ingredients and cross-border convenience services, which may lead to a new model for the future development of catering.
At the same time, in order to ensure the supply of catering services during the epidemic, catering companies have also increased various measures such as takeaway supply and dine-in delivery to home. Song Yanhong, chairperson of Luoyang Shuixiyuan Catering Co., Ltd., told reporters that now the stores are basically takeaway. Stores are ready to add pasta varieties, braised varieties, steamer varieties, and some special dishes that are working in progress to facilitate customer packaging.
It can be said that increasing takeout has become one of the effective measures for catering companies to relieve operational pressure. So, how to ensure the safety of takeout personnel and customers?
Meituan Takeaway urgently dispatched product technicians to complete the development and launch of the "contactless delivery" solution on January 24, less than 24 hours from receiving the demand to completing the launch. On January 26, Meituan Takeaway took the lead in launching the "contactless delivery" service in Wuhan as a priority pilot, and has been launched in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other cities one after another. It has now achieved national coverage.
After Meituan Takeaway launched the "contactless delivery" model, the logistics industry also followed suit. At present, JD.com, Convenience Bee, Hema, Tmall, Ele.me and other companies have also followed suit and adopted "contactless delivery". According to the relevant person in charge of Meituan Takeaway, "contactless delivery" ensures the safety of users and riders during the meal collection process by reducing face-to-face contact. It provides further protection for users and riders on the basis of requiring riders to fully equip masks and disinfect food boxes.
Call for favorable policies
The dilemma facing the catering industry has also attracted attention from all parties. In order to help "fight the epidemic", a number of commercial real estate have announced a reduction or halving of merchant rents. Wanda Group announced that in order to strengthen the pneumonia epidemic prevention and control of novel coronavirus infections, from January 24th to February 25th, Wanda Commercial Management Group will implement a full exemption policy for merchant rents and property fees in all Wanda Plaza; Joy City Holdings also said that it will reduce some of the rents during the Spring Festival for merchants in 13 commercial projects across the country, reducing the pressure on brand merchants and overcoming the difficulties together.
Judging from the reality, during the epidemic, the stores of catering enterprises cannot operate normally and have no operating income. In addition, catering enterprises have to bear the loss of expired ingredients, and also pay employees’ salaries, store rents and commissions for takeaway delivery platforms. The reporter found that in order to prevent and control the epidemic, many catering stores have adjusted their business hours, but the fixed expenses have overwhelmed many catering enterprises.
"In addition to food costs, the biggest cost in the catering industry is labor and store rent. I hope relevant departments can introduce favorable policies as soon as possible." Chen Xiaorong suggested that, on the one hand, during the epidemic, provide large-scale subsidies to real estate owners and accurately benefit end point catering enterprises; on the other hand, actively promote Meituan, Ele.me and other takeaway platforms to reduce or eliminate deduction points during the epidemic, and work together to build a benign takeaway healthy ecology. At the same time, the human resources and social security departments should give appropriate preference to social security policies. In response to the epidemic, special job stabilization subsidies can be considered for enterprises, and timely policy support can be given to enterprises that resume work.
"In the case of declining sales, the business stores insist on ensuring supply and not increasing prices, which will bring a lot of cash flow pressure to the company. Now the company urgently needs to solve the cash flow problem and generate profits." Chen Ning, CEO of Le Caesar Pizza, suggested that major state-owned banks can provide interest-free loans or low-interest loans for special projects to help companies solve the cash flow problem, because it will take more than a year to alleviate the current situation.
At present, in order to prevent the spread of the epidemic, the resumption of work in some provinces and cities has been further delayed, and the normal business time of catering enterprises has also been marked with a big question mark. The reporter learned from Huaxi LIVE characteristic business street that the restaurants with the "suspension of business" notice did not mention when they would resume business.
The relevant person in charge of the China Cuisine Association frankly said that the current epidemic is still continuing, and catering enterprises do not yet have the conditions for large-scale resumption of business. In order to support catering enterprises to tide over the difficulties and restore confidence, local governments are encouraged to provide subsidies for water and electricity bills to local catering enterprises, and various municipal and regional charges are reduced or exempted; banks are encouraged to provide government discount loans for catering enterprises for more than one year. At the same time, it is recommended to moderately reduce the social security payment base, allow enterprises to implement "stay-on-duty leave", and provide certain living subsidies to employees who have difficulty living. (Economic Daily · China Economic Network reporter, Ji Leilei)