Shanghai restaurants offering takeout for reunion dinners

As clusters of COVID-19 infections emerge in parts of China, restaurants in Shanghai have started offering heat-and-serve gourmet meals for reunion dinners on Lunar New Year's Eve, which falls on Feb 11 this year.

"Safety is our first concern, so we decided to eat at home this year," said Su Zhihao, who usually books a table in a restaurant for a big family reunion.

Gathering for a feast on the eve of Spring Festival is a tradition for Chinese people, and restaurants across the country usually start promoting the festival meal months before the holiday.

"I will buy some precooked food before the eve so that it won't cost my parents too much time and labor preparing the dinner at home," Su said.

Many people share Su's intentions, and more restaurants have launched precooked dinner packages for customers.

Shanghai Lao Fan Dian, a century-old restaurant renowned for authentic Shanghai cuisine, is offering three precooked dinner sets ranging from 688 yuan ($106) to 1,288 yuan.

"In the past, our dinner package was for eight to 10 people. This year we offered a smaller set for core families of three to four people, and it has been selling very well as many young people are not going back to their hometowns," said the restaurant's manager.

Song He Lou, another time-honored restaurant featuring Suzhou-style cuisine, said it opened for orders of Spring Festival precooked meals during the New Year holiday, and more than 5,000 sets were sold in the first hour.

The Park Hotel Shanghai said sales of precooked meals have increased by 20 percent compared with last year.

Xu Zhengliu, manager of Ningbo Tangtuan, said the restaurant began accepting orders two weeks ahead of schedule for its glutinous rice balls, a traditional dessert for the Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year, or Feb 26 this year.

Liu Min, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commerce Commission, said on Saturday that restaurants that provide delivery service for more than 200 people should obtain the necessary permits and provide masks and sanitizer for their staff to ensure food safety.

On Tuesday, the Shanghai Restaurants Cuisine Association published a list of more than 430 restaurants in the city that offer precooked Spring Festival meals.

Jin Peihua, deputy secretary-general of the association, said the number of restaurants providing delivery of festival meals has increased by 30 percent.

"The restaurants have all been certified to provide food delivery and have implemented strict hygiene measures," Jin said. "We will also partner with food delivery platforms to promote online ordering for the festival dinner."

As for people who have already booked tables, Liu said that restaurants should shoulder their social responsibility and handle booking cancellations properly after communicating with customers.

Xiang Kaiyu, manager of the Guangming Tun restaurant, said it had received several cancellations recently. "The canceled table will not be sold again, but removed to create more safe distance between each table," he said.

Besides refunds, restaurants in Shanghai have offered various options, such as postponing reservations or allowing takeout of cooked meals at a discount.