Diners make a dash to Beijing restaurants after dine-in services resume

Since dine-in services resumed from June 6 in Beijing, people have been rushing back to their much-missed restaurants. As a result, restaurants across Beijing are back on their feet and expect more diners this weekend.

"Our capacity has been 60-70 percent these days," said Sun Changgeng, who is running a barbecue restaurant in the Wangjing area of Chaoyang district.

Another dish that people think tastes better at a restaurant is hotpot.

On June 6, the Xidan branch of Haidilao, a hotpot chain, served more than 100 tables of customers. Its manager Wang Yanling told Beijing Business Today that the rush hour started from 11 am and lasted until early morning the next day. "All of our private dining rooms are booked for this weekend," Wang added.

Despite recent increases in sales, restaurant owners expect to continue their takeout services as part of their long-term strategy.

"During the monthlong suspension of dine-in operations, we were offering takeout service every day,"Sun said. "We will not stop it even at the moment indoor dining resumes. Our self-delivery can reach customers within a 5-kilometer radius of our restaurant, and self pickup is also encouraged."

Yang Hao, operations director of a restaurant featuring Shunde cuisine, said: "Takeout service complements our dine-in operations. As customers like to shop online, takeout service is becoming a must-learn skill for every restaurant."

During the suspension, Cuihualou, a time-honored restaurant in Beijing, promoted its dishes via livestreaming. Among its new positions on offer is a livestreaming anchor, who is expected to have experience of promoting merchandise in a livestream.

Wang Peixin, Cuihualou's general manager, said that established restaurants like hers have to innovate and explore unfamiliar areas. In the future, more of its employees or new recruits will be engaged in livestreaming.

"It takes time to get the familiar smell of food filling the street back. Restaurants are still following strict prevention measures," Yang said.

These measures include examining customers' health codes, temperature and negative nucleic acid test results taken within 72 hours, according to Ding Jianhua, an official from the Beijing Commerce Bureau.

To remind customers of keeping a safe distance during their meal, restaurants have found creative approaches. In branches of fast-food chain KFC there are seating markers saying "please sit apart" posted on each table. Huda Restaurant in the Guijie gourmet strip in Dongcheng district fills middle seats by putting bowls of chili or stuffed crawfish on them. And Haidilao's employees fold towels into swans and put them between seats to address social distancing needs.