Many restaurateurs in Shenzhen ended the first post-outbreak public holiday weekend with disappointment as the Food and Beverage business did not get the boost it was expecting, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.
The Daily report said many restaurants earned less than 10,000 yuan (US$1,413) a day from their dine-in business during the three-day Qingming Festival holiday that ended Monday. Although business incomes from online food sales have increased, their revenues have been offset by the high commissions charged by the third-party online food order platforms, the Daily said, quoting a few restaurant managers.
“We never thought the business would be so bad during the Qingming Festival holiday,” said a manager surnamed Zhang of the Defulou Seafood Restaurant in Meilin, Futian District.
“The catering business has gone through the coldest winter in February when the coronavirus outbreak was at its peak in China. We managed to survive the outbreak in March when the city’s economy was almost put on hold. We had all our hope on April as the economic activity has gradually got back on track,” said Zhang, adding that the daily business income of less than 10,000 yuan from his restaurant was barely enough to pay for the property rent, let alone the labor cost and other operational expenses.
The hospitality industry was granted the green light from the city government to resume dine-in service late February after the city’s prevention and control efforts on the coronavirus started to pay off. Although many restaurants have taken some epidemic prevention measures such as checking diners’ temperatures at the entrance and providing hand sanitizer, many residents have still been reluctant to eat in a restaurant, as they said they don’t want to take the risk.
Online business, however, picked up as an increasing number of Shenzheners ordered take-out food on third-party online platforms.
According to a manager with Shundelao, one of the city’s best-known Cantonese cuisine restaurants, the restaurant chain currently depends heavily on online food sales as the dine-in business brings in only several thousand yuan each day. However, the manager, surnamed Li, said the commission charged by the third-party online platforms nullifies a significant portion of their revenue.
Li urged the online platforms to lower their commission rates to help the caterers survive the epidemic.
Shenzhen Cuisine Association has called for more financial assistance, such as rent reduction and financial products designed for the operators, to help the Food and Beverage industry, one of the businesses that are most vulnerable to the epidemic outbreak.
A subsidy of up to 200,000 yuan currently on offer by the Futian District Government to the caterers in Futian is among a series of favorable policies rolled out by the city’s authority to help enterprises and businesses through the epidemic, the Daily said.
Several district governments have distributed coupons to boost consumer spending. According to the Daily, coupons totalling 110 million yuan have been distributed by Luohu, Futian and Longhua district governments. Additionally, Longhua government has given out 8 million yuan in clothing coupons to encourage residents to shop in its Dalang Fashion Town and each car buyer will be given a 2,000 yuan subsidy if they purchase in Longhua.