China’s Restaurants, Tea Shops Get Lunar New Year Uplift
Jie Shuyi
DATE:  Feb 19 2024
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
China’s Restaurants, Tea Shops Get Lunar New Year Uplift China’s Restaurants, Tea Shops Get Lunar New Year Uplift

(Yicai) Feb. 19 -- China’s food and beverage sector in non-first-tier cities got a boost over the recent eight-day holiday as people celebrated the lunar new year holiday with ‘homecoming parties.’

Daily consumption over the Chinese New Year jumped 36 percent from a year earlier and 155 percent from the level of 2019, data from online meal delivery giant Meituan showed on Feb. 15. Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Sichuan were among the provincial-level regions with the highest consumption.

The number of customers at hotpot chain Haidilao rose 30 percent to more than 9.5 million in the first seven days of the festive break from a year ago, Yicai learned. Diners at its restaurants in Henan province's Zhumadian, Hebei province's Baoding, Shandong province's Jining, and other second and third-tier cities surged more than 60 percent.

One Shanghai worker who returned home to Jiangxi province with her husband and children over the Spring Festival was surprised by the long lines for restaurants at downtown shopping malls. “There were at least 20 tables waiting before us at every restaurant, with the number reaching more than 50 at some. I've never seen it like that before,” she said.

Xiabuxiabu Catering Management Holdings' hot pot brands Xiabuxiabu and Coucou and its tea drink brand Tea Me Tea had over 1.6 million customers between Feb. 10 and 16. Thirty-one of its outlets notched up record sales, led by its restaurants in second and third-tier cities.

Some stores of tea chain Naixue had a seven-fold surge in sales over the holiday period. Several of its outlets in southwest China, including Chengdu Jinkong Center at No. 4 Tianfu Street in Wuhou district, Chengdu Yintai Center, and Chongqing Longfor Jinsha Paradise Walk, received large single orders exceeding CNY20,000 (USD2,800) each.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Martin Kadiev

Follow Yicai Global on
Keywords:   Catering,Spring Festival