In recent years, there has been a boom in the opening of community canteens in many places across the country. According to statistics, there will be more than 1,700 newly registered community canteens of various types in 2023. At the same time, some community canteens are in operational difficulties. Banyuetan reporters learned from interviews that some community canteens have inaccurate target groups, "generalized welfare", and unsatisfactory operation and service effects.
Opened 9 stores but lost 6, some canteens were unavailable
Since 2023, news of community canteens opening their doors and closing their doors have appeared frequently. According to public information, community canteens have stopped operating in Beijing, Xi'an, Shenyang, Hangzhou and other places. Some canteens even closed within two months of opening, leaving hundreds of elderly people with no refunds on their prepaid cards.
A reporter from Banyuetan visited a street in a province in central China and found that 6 of the 9 canteens built there closed down due to losses. Further investigation revealed that the province’s elderly canteens suffered a loss of 61.77%. A total of 2,059 catering stations have been built in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, but only 913 are actually in operation, and half of them are operating at a loss. The Beijing Survey Team of the National Bureau of Statistics conducted a typical survey of 40 senior dining institutions. The results showed that 55% of canteen operating institutions said that meal prices are difficult to keep pace with costs, and the loss gap is increasing.
Community canteens in many places account for more than half of their losses. One of the direct reasons is that not as many elderly people come to eat as expected. Wang Defu, an associate professor at the School of Social Sciences at Wuhan University, introduced a set of research figures to Ban Yuetan reporter. The theoretical catering service for the elderly in Suzhou is 120,000 people, but the actual average daily service volume is only 24,000; in Yixing, Wuxi, the catering service center The average daily number of people served at (site) is about 3,100, accounting for only 1.22% of all elderly people; in Qingdao, Shandong Province, in 2023, 985 catering institutions served 950,000 elderly people, with an average of only 3 people per institution per day.
Policy comparison can easily lead to “welfare generalization”
At the same time, the enthusiasm for community canteen construction has not cooled down. Eleven departments including the Ministry of Civil Affairs jointly issued the "Action Plan for Actively Developing Meal Assistance Services for the Elderly". The short-term goal is to achieve a "significant increase" in the coverage of meal assistance services for the elderly in urban and rural communities across the country by the end of 2025. Many provinces have proposed to achieve "full coverage" of elderly care service canteens in cities, counties and urban areas.
A person in charge of the operation of a community canteen said that if the number of people served by the meal buffet is less than 30, it will be difficult to break down the cost. "Currently, the construction, operation, and services of community canteens are all reaching out to the finance." Lu Dewen, a professor at the School of Social Sciences of Wuhan University, said that local governments generally provide one-time construction subsidies and operating subsidies for community canteens. "No one will eat after they are built" will lead to a waste of financial funds. . "If community canteens are too dense, it will easily squeeze the restaurants around the community and create new employment problems."
The survey found that policy comparisons exist in some more developed regions, leading to "generalization of welfare." "The prices of community canteens are already low. Some areas offer free meals for the elderly. In fact, many elderly people are not unable to pay. This goes against the principle of 'covering the bottom line' of people's livelihood and welfare." Wang Defu said that community canteens should focus on solving the problem of elderly people living alone and those who are semi-disabled. The basic needs of disabled elderly people who have difficulty eating.
Hold the "cow's nose" and no longer "pave the way"
Experts interviewed believe that community canteens should implement the principle of "basic, universal and comprehensive" to ensure people's livelihood, so that government subsidies can hold the "winner's nose" and no longer "pave the way". Experts such as Wang Defu suggested that the needs of the elderly in the jurisdiction should be scientifically assessed based on ability indicators such as self-care ability and financial affordability. It is not appropriate to use rigid age standards to delineate the scope and add more subsidies.
Many places simply pursue the coverage of catering establishments, and task indicators are passed down to the grassroots level. In actual operations, elderly people in rural areas and some elderly people living alone with limited mobility have rigid dining needs, but the current coverage of dining services for these groups is still relatively limited. Wang Xiaohui, associate professor at the School of Marxism at Huazhong Agricultural University, suggested changing the current supply pattern, controlling the number of centralized dining canteens, and focusing on the development of relatively low-cost and flexible meal delivery services.
Experts suggest that a comprehensive physical examination be carried out for established community canteens, and those that lack operating conditions should be promptly withdrawn, merged or transformed. Relevant departments should strengthen the guidance on the work of catering services for the elderly in various regions, prevent various regions, especially economically developed regions, from engaging in "welfare comparisons" for the sake of political performance, and explore the operational experience of "spending more and doing more with less".
Original title: "Some areas are experiencing losses exceeding 60%, and some are "built and no one will eat them." Beware of the "generalization of welfare" in community canteens.
Half Moon Talk Reporter: Li Wei and Song Likun
*This article is the content of the 4th issue of "Half Moon Talk" in 2024