(Fighting against New Coronary Pneumonia) Chinese catering industry "clouds" share experience and talk about the recovery of overseas Chinese food

  China News Service, Beijing, September 15th, title: Chinese catering industry "clouds" share experience and talk about the recovery of overseas Chinese food

  China News Agency reporter Wu Kan

  Since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the business of overseas Chinese restaurants has suffered heavy losses. Under the tremendous pressure of survival, how can overseas Chinese restaurants transform and upgrade and seek development?

On the afternoon of September 14th, Beijing time, the China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese held the "Overseas Chinese Catering Industry's Anti-epidemic Resumption Video Exchange Conference". Representatives of Chinese catering practitioners shared their experience of resuming work in the cloud, and supported the recovery of overseas Chinese food.

"Difficult" is still the current keyword

  As the epidemic situation in many countries eased, the catering industry "restarted."

However, many overseas Chinese catering companies are not easy, "surviving" is still the most important thing.

  "I have been in the Chinese food industry in Spain for 30 years and have experienced many difficult times. This time can be said to be an unprecedented difficulty." said Zhou Jianhong, president of the Qingtian Association of Barcelona, ​​Spain and owner of the Dahai cafeteria. The recent rebound in the Spanish epidemic has hit Chinese food again. Many Chinese restaurants are still closed due to factors such as declining passenger flow and rising raw material prices.

  Yang Min, the owner of the New Zealand chain restaurant brand Jinwei Delanzhou Ramen, said that after New Zealand was unblocked in May, restaurant business had already shown signs of recovery. As a result, Auckland was again "closed" in August and business entered a "winter".

"The passenger flow in the store is only about 30% of that before the epidemic, and it is difficult to recover in a short time."

  "The catering industry is one of the pillar industries of overseas Chinese in Germany, and the epidemic has also prompted the reshuffle of the Chinese restaurant industry in Germany." said Lai Chengmin, president of the German Qingtian Association and owner of the Leopard Restaurant. In particular, some large Chinese cafeterias are facing bankruptcy. , You must transform if you want to survive.

Turn "danger" into "opportunity" and strive to upgrade quality

  “Summer was originally the peak tourist season in Italy. In previous years, there were long queues in our restaurants. There were fewer customers this year, but let us slow down and have time to delve into dishes and improve service.” Chairman of Italian Zhonghua Building Chinese Restaurant He Jianfeng said.

  He Jianfeng said that although Chinese food is very popular overseas, it has long been difficult to get rid of stereotypes such as low-end and cheap.

"Why turn this crisis into an opportunity, develop exquisite dishes, optimize the dining environment, and welcome the resurgence of Chinese food with a new image."

  In Lai Chengmin's view, during the development process of some Chinese restaurants in Germany, they gradually improved according to the preferences of the locals, but lost the essence of Chinese food "color, fragrance and taste".

"During the epidemic, some large-scale, high operating costs, and loss of characteristics of Chinese restaurants began to close down, while those small but sophisticated restaurants that retained the flavor of Chinese cuisine survived."

  He said that overseas Chinese food should not be limited to frying a plate of dishes to be full and fragrant, but should work hard to improve the quality of the dishes and preserve the flavor of Chinese food.

"It is imperative to upgrade the quality of overseas Chinese food, so that locals must feel the charm of Chinese food culture."

New technology helps boost the Chinese restaurant industry

  During the epidemic, various “contactless” services were sought after, and the use of new technologies such as scanning code ordering, robot delivery, and online payment also helped the recovery of overseas Chinese restaurants.

  Yu Bin, chairman of the China Drinks Association in the Netherlands, said that during the epidemic, some Chinese fast-food restaurants in the Netherlands tried to use robots to deliver meals, reducing labor costs and attracting many customers.

"Restaurant robots can be used for food delivery and table service. Guests place orders through the QR code on the table. Employees hand the food to the robot and enter the table number. The robot can automatically deliver the food and return."

  "As early as two years ago, I introduced robots to deliver food. I didn't expect it to be of great use during the epidemic." Zhu Maozuo, president of the Austrian Vienna Catering Association and owner of Hero Hotel, said that the passenger flow of restaurants rose instead of falling. Compared with the same period last year, it also increased by about 30%.

  Having worked in the Chinese restaurant industry in Austria for more than 30 years, Zhu Maozuo has always been confident in the future of overseas Chinese cuisine.

"In March this year, I also opened a new restaurant of more than 1,000 square meters. This crisis may be a turning point for the catering industry to stand out. I believe that the overseas Chinese catering industry will return to its previous prosperity." (End)