Zhongxin Finance, June 7th (Zuo Yukun Gong Hongyu) "On the evening of the 5th, it was the last night before Beijing resumed dine-in. I was walking by the roadside, ordered a handful of skewers, and heard The owner of the small shop quietly told the regular customers that they can come in after 12 o'clock and sit down."
Since June 6, except for the whole area of Fengtai District and some areas of Changping District, catering business units in other areas of Beijing have opened dine-in services.
Has the lively Beijing come back?
At 0:00 on June 6, diners ate in a restaurant on Dongzhimen Inner Street in Beijing.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Tomita
There is a queue in front of the store
"My friend and I came to a Haidilao at 0:00 on the 6th. I didn't expect that there were already many people waiting in line. It took half an hour to go in. We ate until after 3:00 in the morning, and people kept coming in in the middle." Beijing Citizen Wu Jiu (pseudonym) told Zhongxin Finance.
According to the service staff of the store, many customers came to wait late at night, just to eat hot pot as soon as possible: "As soon as the door opened, dozens of tables of guests came, and once had to queue up. Until 3 or 4 in the morning, there were customers one after another. To shop."
"I think it's a revenge dine-in! It's really inconvenient not to be able to dine in. I'll invite friends to eat at home, and I feel that the catering business is not easy." Wu Jiu said.
At the Xidan Haidilao store at noon on the 6th, consumers scanned the code to enter.
Photo by Zhongxin Finance and Economics Gong Hongyu
The first day of resumption of dine-in in Beijing was quite lively.
At noon on the 6th, the Xidan business district welcomed long-lost diners, and many young people who worked nearby rushed to check in for the first dine-in meal after the lockdown was lifted.
Zhongxin Finance noticed that even though it was noon on weekdays, some restaurants were already full of customers, and there were long queues at the door.
"I don't remember what floor the store I'm going to is on," joked a couple working on Financial Street while checking a map.
At the same time, some restaurants close to the office are also doing good business, and having lunch with colleagues adds a sense of ceremony to the first day of returning to the offline office.
On the evening of the 6th, the number of customers queuing for dine-in in the business district also increased. Zhongxin Finance noticed that the queuing stores were more restricted in takeaways such as hot pot, barbecue, and skewered incense, and they were mainly businesses that depended more on dine-in.
"The queuing situation tonight is about the level of the Friday night before the epidemic. If you come to line up after 6 o'clock, you will have to wait for about two and a half hours." A staff member of a hot pot restaurant told Zhongxin Finance that it has not been so busy for a long time. , I am still very excited.
But for the long-lost dine-in, the deepest feelings are the bosses who are engaged in the catering industry.
Consumers queued up at the entrance of a restaurant in Xidan Joy City at noon on the 6th.
Photo by Zhongxin Finance and Economics Gong Hongyu
New challenges and new experiences
"Don't let Gewu eat, you can only take it away. (Don't let you eat in the house, you can only take it away)" Master Li, a northeasterner who opened a skewer restaurant in Xicheng District, Beijing, has always been in this month. With a northeastern accent, he said this to customers, and over time, he also printed out this slogan and pasted it on the door.
Master Li's store was opened on a commercial street that mainly focuses on catering. The epidemic and the suspension of dine-in restaurants suddenly reduced the number of people in the business district by at least two-thirds.
"I didn't do takeaways before. I always felt that the barbecue was the best when it was just grilled and swiped with a sign to 'flick the sparks', but now I can't do anything about it."
In the past month or so, Master Li's store has not only launched an online takeaway platform, but also free delivery for orders within 15 kilometers around.
"Anyway, the employees don't have much to do, and they let them walk on the streets."
"If you think about it optimistically, you don't need to wash the dishes!" Mr. Li recalled that during these days, customers often came to the store to pick them up, and they were not in a hurry to go home. Open the bottle cap, pick up the skewer and eat.
At the beginning of May, the flying flakes in Beijing were quite serious, and I didn't care if I ate a mouthful of hair.
When Master Li sees it, he will send a maza or a cushion, and when he is not busy, he will chat a few words together.
"At that time, the temperature was not too high, the sun was not big and there was a breeze. A customer told me that it felt like returning to the bustling street intersection when I was a child, and there were delicious meals."
Neighboring shops around Master Li also had new attempts and experiences during this time.
"If you make stew in an iron pot, you can directly put the iron pot on the outside and shovel a box of 20 yuan to take away; if you make barbecue, you can buy a set meal and get a small pot, and you can bake it yourself at home; if you make Japanese and Northwest dishes, Everything that can be put out is taken out and put on the stall.”
On the evening of June 6, customers queuing for dine-in.
Photo by Zuo Yukun of China-Singapore Finance and Economics
Also deeply touched is Ms. Lang, a caterer who runs both a western restaurant and a hot pot restaurant.
"When I received the news that I couldn't dine in on May 1st, I was flustered, but I was lucky to think that it was just a short-term holiday. The countermeasure was to simply contact the regular customers in the group randomly, reminding me that you can order a single line online. Pick it up and wait."
"But after the post-holiday measures were released, I immediately became nervous. There were only five words in my mind, 'this is not an exercise'!" Ms. Lang immediately met with partners and the head of restaurant operations for a meeting to focus on online product development, private domain operation and maintenance , online platform strategy adjustment, and distribution and packaging logistics have been comprehensively discussed.
"We spent a day preparing from all dimensions. The products and gameplays launched for customers on various online platforms have already been implemented the next morning, and the results are not bad." Ms. Lang said that the restaurant stocked up on the May 1st holiday 95 More than % of the sales are sold, and the average daily sales of takeaways reach 80% of the dine-in period. It is hard to find Western food that sells space. The weekend take-out turnover of hot pot restaurants exceeds the dine-in period.
"Before, we have not made timely adjustments to how to operate online in a targeted manner. This can be regarded as an unexpected gain in difficulty." Ms. Lang said.
In addition to the transformation of Ms. Lang, there are also many businesses who have chosen to return to a life based on dine-in.
An employee of a mid-to-high-end steak restaurant in Beijing that focuses on the dining environment and freshly grilled taste told Zhongxin Finance: "The taste of the steak delivered cannot be guaranteed, and after the unsealing, it is still only for dine-in."
At 0:00 on June 6, diners entered the restaurant after scanning the code and temperature measurement outside a restaurant on Dongzhimen Inner Street in Beijing.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Tomita
"Get ready to open!"
Mr. Park, a Korean, has been in China for more than ten years and runs a Korean restaurant in Wangjing.
Chaoyang District has been greatly affected by the current round of the epidemic, and the rent plus the loss of wages in all aspects. He admitted that he has never felt so difficult and powerless in Beijing for so long.
"Especially at the beginning, there were no customers and there were very few takeaways. The customer's community was also blocked, and takeaways were not allowed. Many times I was the only one in the store." Mr. Park recalled that starting in April The epidemic has fluctuated in Wangjing one after another, which has reduced a lot of customer traffic, and the store has not stocked a lot of ingredients, but the suspension of dine-in has brought a great impact.
But what moved Mr. Park was that old customers and friends always remembered him and encouraged him.
"I said that in order to save electricity, the store was reluctant to turn on the air conditioner when it was very hot, and only turned on an electric fan to work. Some customers brought me iced coffee, fruits, etc., and I also sent some customers and friends to make my own. Food, let’s chat and cheer together.”
The day before the resumption of dine-in, Mr. Park had been cleaning the store, and the suppliers were too busy, so he had to run errands to receive the goods himself.
"A lot of customers have sent me messages. They may be afraid that I am a foreigner and don't know how to resume dine-in. They told me, 'Uncle Korea, get ready to open!' 'If you can dine in, I'll be there tomorrow!' Wait, very move."
Mr. Park told Zhongxin Finance that his next goal is to put in 5 times more efforts to restore his life and life.
In addition to the catering industry, on the first day after the unblocking, industries such as haircuts, manicures, and fitness also experienced a "clustering" phenomenon.
"Finally, I can exercise offline." After hearing the news that the gym resumed operations on the 6th, Yuping (pseudonym), who had been holding back for a month, made an appointment for an offline personal training class for the first time.
During the control period, she took classes on her home mobile phone and coaching video, which not only did not work well in correcting her movements, but also did not have an atmosphere for exercise.
Not only that, but when Yu Ping logged into the gym system, she found that the group class on the evening of the 6th was sold out one day in advance. "Everyone can't wait."
"For us, the lost business is lost. The important thing is to do a good job in the next business." June 5 is the last day of the Dragon Boat Festival. Master Li went to the nearby streets for a stroll. Many stores still It didn't open the door, but watching the bosses wash the slate floor in the store, wipe the glass, busy with tomorrow's dine-in opening, I was really happy for them.
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