China News Service, June 23, according to the US "World Daily" report, the catering industry is an important way of earning a living for many Chinese American residents. Chinese restaurants can be found everywhere in the United States, giving many new immigrants a life-saving industry, and also making Chinese food such as Hibiscus eggs and tangerine peel chicken together with apple pie, a common cultural symbol in American life. In the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic, the Chinese catering industry unfortunately became one of the industries hit hardest. With the economic reopening of the counties, how will the Chinese industry regroup? Michael Chen, who operates restaurant chains in the United States, said the Chinese restaurant industry is facing transformation challenges.
Chen Jiequn said that the epidemic will significantly change the dining habits of American customers. Many traditional indoor catering industries will be forced to take out and transform their sales. Marketing will rely more on network technology, online applications and social media than before. This new market environment is both a challenge and a new opportunity for restaurant owners.
Chen Jiequn is a young Chinese-born entrepreneur who was born in the United States. He founded Pokeworks, a health food restaurant chain in 2015, and has won recognition from customers with new and improved Asian cuisine. Before the outbreak, he had opened about 50 chain stores in the United States and Canada. Like many Chinese restaurants, the sudden epidemic in 2020 disrupted Pokeworks' business plan. Chen Jiequn said that when the epidemic was worst, he had to temporarily close 30 stores to save various expenses. Although the federal government provides a bailout plan, the bailout money is only a small amount compared to the losses suffered during the epidemic.
Despite great economic pressure, Chen Jiequn is still cautious about reopening. He said that although most branches have been opened one after another under the economic reopening policy, he will not open dine-outs for the safety of employees and customers until the epidemic is fully controlled. Takeout and ordering have become the main sources of income.
Chen Jiequn said that the impact of take-out on the catering business model has led multiple owners to order food through third parties, such as Ubereat and Gradhub. However, these take-out apps will impose higher meal delivery fees on orderers, and will also charge restaurants 20%-25% of the meal order amount as a platform service fee. Both diners and restaurants are under greater economic pressure. Chen Jiequn said that in addition to encouraging diners to order meals through the website and phone of his chain store, he also considered finding a company to develop his own ordering app to save high platform service fees.
After the epidemic, the cost of business management has increased. In order to ensure the safety of diners and employees, Chen Jiequn said that each state and county will develop strict sanitary standards, including requiring restaurants to provide employees with hygienic protective equipment and training that meet the standards. overwhelmed. At the same time, many employees are worried about the health risks of going to work at this time, and they are on the sidelines of the economic reopening, making it difficult for restaurants to recruit enough staff. (Zheng Aotian)