Nation's taste for online food delivery grows

Zhou Huan, a 25-year-old worker from Beijing, said the ringing of her doorbell makes her particularly happy these days. Three times a day, it means meals are being delivered to the gate of her apartment.

A total of 300 million customers like Zhou ordered food online last year, meaning that one in five Chinese relied on delivery services, which have grown explosively in China. A majority of customers ordered through popular apps.

The size of the Chinese online delivery market exceeded 297 billion yuan ($46.5 billion) last year - representing annual growth of over 65 percent - and was expected to exceed 360 billion yuan in 2018, according to the Meituan-Dianping Catering Report 2018, released on Tuesday. The report was produced by the giant online buying service Meituan-Dianping and Restaurant Owners Internal Reference, an industry advisory publication.