Kang An Ge, The economic downturn has led Chinese consumers to turn to cheaper takeaway meals rather than dining in the most budget-friendly restaurants, leading to the closure of more than one million restaurants since the start of 2024, according to China's catering industry news service.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) Drilled a hole Reviewing the Kangguanju data on Thursday, he said it's a particularly tough time for noodle and dumpling shops, which surged in popularity when China's economy was booming but quickly faded as consumers decided it was cheaper to eat noodles and dumplings at home.
Of particular note are: Din Tai FungA gyoza chain restaurant from Taiwan. end This accounts for approximately half of the 30 stores in China.
Like gourmet burger restaurants in the United States, Din Tai Fung was seen as a harbinger of China's growing middle class prosperity, offering upscale gourmet versions of dishes that could be bought cheaply from takeout shops or made at home.
Although Din Tai Fung is based in Taiwan, it also has a strange political dimension in China, because dumplings are considered a delicacy that China developed and exported to Taiwanese people after the great split between Taiwan and mainland China. Taiwan making the best dumplings and selling them successfully in China was almost a metaphor for the prodigal Taiwanese returning to China. The collapse of the Taiwanese chain is therefore both an economic and political embarrassment for the Chinese Communist Party.
Similarly, noodle shops were once a barometer of business-class success, catering to ambitious businessmen. Chinese commentators amusedly told RFA that noodle shops became popular at business meetings, where bribes were often exchanged behind the scenes, but that thousands have now closed. Eating out has become such an ostentatious extravagance that civil servants are afraid to dine out for fear of attracting the attention of corruption investigators.
“Senior government officials are no longer eating out and spending money, which is a big blow to China's fine dining restaurants,” said commentator Chen Bokong.
The end result was that catering profits fell a whopping 88.8% in the first half of 2024, while food delivery profits increased by 49.7%. Delivery drivers anecdotally report that many of their customers are the type of people who previously preferred to eat out, and that the drivers themselves are often people who previously worked in white-collar jobs.
