It’s not about the name, it’s the community canteen in my mind
In Bansongyuan Road, catering services adopt various modes. Elderly people over 75 years old in the jurisdiction have 10 5-yuan meal coupons every month. They can use the meal coupons for consumption in restaurants listed as "elderly canteens".
There are two forms of meal aid vouchers. One is through the street's own WeChat applet with built-in electronic vouchers for direct verification. The other is for the elderly who cannot use smartphones to apply for a card and swipe the card for verification.
All stores use unified preferential measures, so that we can better observe and analyze what kind of community canteens the elderly like.
Model 1: Self-built streets also have individuality in standardization
The categories are limited, and the government's support function is used to meet the urgent needs of the elderly who are inconvenient to cook.
At noon, residents in groups of three or three went to Quxi New Village. After walking dozens of meters from the gate, they came to a small building in the community and smelled the aroma of food. The place where residents want to go is the community canteen built on Bansongyuan Road Street in Huangpu District. This community canteen is hidden in the comprehensive service center for the elderly in the community.
Kung pao chicken is 12 yuan, salt and pepper steak is 12 yuan, zucchini scrambled eggs are 8 yuan, wild rice shredded pork is 8 yuan, scallion oil and taro are 5 yuan... You can have a nutritionally balanced lunch for more than 20 yuan. So, what exactly is the street self-construction model?
The cost of running a canteen is not low, especially in the central city of Shanghai, where almost every inch of land is at a premium. Each street tries to find its own space or adjustable space within its jurisdiction to avoid high rents. Therefore, the location selection cannot be arbitrary. Different streets have different resource endowments. Some are street shops, while others can only be placed in residential areas.
Why is the community canteen on Bansongyuan Road hidden in the community? Xu Yanwen, deputy director of the Bansongyuan Road Sub-district Office, told reporters that the community canteen in the sub-district had been built as early as 2007. At that time, it was planned to be an embedded service, so it was placed in the sub-district’s comprehensive service center for the elderly and was constructed simultaneously with it. and use it, and entrust a qualified third-party organization to perform professional operations.
The reporter learned that the street made resource coordination when planning the community canteen. This small building was originally a kindergarten. With the decrease in the number of births and the aging of the population, the street changed the small building from "serving the young" to "serving the elderly". The opening of community canteens is a step forward. Now according to the concept of a 15-minute community living circle, the small and hidden location brings some limitations, and the awareness and radiation coverage of the canteen are affected to a certain extent.
Self-built community canteens are generally built under the coordination of the street. They are positioned as public buildings and private enterprises and are operated by professional third parties. They use standardized construction to ensure health, safety and operating standards. The street's special services will also be introduced when serving meals.
The dining area of the community canteen in Bansongyuan Road is about 150 square meters, which is spacious and bright, and the sanitary condition is relatively ideal. From the early days, it only served lunch, and gradually expanded to serve breakfast. Dinner will also be provided according to seasonal needs. In addition to the standard nutrition package, snacks are also provided. It provides 150-200 set meals every day, of which 50 or 60 set meals need to be delivered to your door.
The canteen has been exempted from rent due to location selection, but property fees, labor costs, government purchase service fees, equipment upgrades and other costs add up to about 1.5 million yuan, which is a considerable expense.
In terms of dishes, there are two dishes every day that are low in sugar and salt, and elderly people with special needs can choose from them. However, the total area of the canteen is limited, the customer meal consumption cannot be compared with that of street stores, and the categories and styles cannot be compared with large restaurants on the market. It plays a government support function and meets the urgent needs of the elderly who are inconvenient to cook.
Currently, the revenue of Bansongyuan Road Community Canteen is basically flat.
"Realizing that conditions are limited, the street has long begun to explore, try, and introduce other models. For example, select qualified high-quality market restaurants to become canteens for the elderly, and the elderly can also verify meal vouchers at these stores." Xia Lingxia, director of the Songyuan Road Subdistrict Office, said.
Bansongyuan Road Community Canteen has a wide range of dishes.
The food delivery workers uniformly wear the work uniforms of the "Cloud Elderly Care" caring brothers printed by the street, and the street supervises the whole process.
With the increasing improvement and enrichment of community canteens, many streets have now turned the special service of "door-to-door meal delivery" into a standard service, providing door-to-door meal delivery services to some elderly people in need and special elderly people with limited mobility.
There are state-owned catering units in Huangpu District that prepare meals for the elderly and deliver them to various street food stations, but delivery within the district requires a minimum order of one month. Bansongyuan Road Street has made food delivery services more detailed. Xu Yanwen said that the elderly often encounter some sudden difficulties, such as sprained feet, illness, and inconvenience to go out. Or the elderly are usually cared for by their children when eating, their children are on business trips or have physical inconveniences. In these cases, they need more flexibility. Door-to-door food delivery service.
The street has shortened the minimum ordering time for food delivery in community canteens, which is calculated on a weekly basis. At the same time, there are support services. If the elderly have special difficulties, they can find an elderly care consultant to take some temporary emergency measures, and order meals to be more flexible.
To this end, the street has incubated a socialized and professional food delivery team called "Yicheng Feike", which is also an enterprise stationed in the street. "Meituan, Ele.me and other companies have large business scopes and cannot fully guarantee the needs of the elderly on Bansongyuan Road." Xu Yanwen said that the street has strict considerations on the qualifications of Yichen Feike staff, and the food delivery staff will be uniform Wear the work uniform of the "Cloud Elder Care" caring brother printed by the street to deliver meals, and the street will supervise the whole process, making the elderly feel more at ease.
This food delivery team has about 15 people and delivers 50-60 meals to the community canteen every day. In the future, the range of meal delivery options will be expanded. For example, meals from community meal sites such as Dafugui can be delivered to your doorstep, so that the tastes of the elderly can change frequently.
The "One City Flyer" food delivery driver delivers lunch from the community canteen to the elderly's home in a timely manner.
Mode 3: The unit canteen is open for dinner and packaged together
I like this dish, but I need to reduce the sugar and change the rich red sauce into a less oily red sauce.
Xinyi Nursing Home has its own canteen. After the nursing home reopened in February this year, its canteen was opened to residents and became one of the street canteens for the elderly. When outsiders enter the canteen of the nursing home to eat, there is a special passage that does not interfere with the nursing home's own passage.
The canteen has a total area of about 400 square meters and can accommodate 500 people. Currently, about 400 meals are served every day. The most popular dishes include shredded eel, fried shrimps, braised seabass, sweet and sour ribs, large ribs, Shanghai smoked fish, etc. The taste is mainly local cuisine, with more than 20 dishes every day, plus wontons, noodles, and delicacies. The show even came to interview me.
Lu Haixin, the chef of the canteen, said that they once tried to open for dinner, but found that business was not as good as at noon. Many elderly people finish eating at noon and take some away for dinner. Few elderly people go out to eat at noon and evening. From a business perspective, we will not be open for dinner.
The per capita consumption here is about 30 yuan, and most of the guests are packing up. Elderly people over 70 years old can enjoy a certain discount when applying for a card by bringing their ID card. More than 90% of the elderly people who often come to this canteen are willing to apply for a card, but there are relatively few elderly people who use street meal vouchers.
Sometimes, elderly people from the next street will come here to eat. They don't care about the administrative area of the canteen, they only care about the walking distance and the quality of the food, so they especially hope that the meal vouchers can be used across streets.
Lu Haixin summarized the preferences of this group of Shanghai elderly: they like local dishes, but on this basis, they need to reduce sugar, and thick oil red sauce should be changed into less oil red sauce.
In addition, the elderly have poor teeth and mouth, so they need to select ingredients. Use less celery, lotus root slices, and edamame that are difficult to chew, and use more pumpkin, winter melon, eggplant, potatoes, loofah, soy products, etc. Many elderly people order a lot of meat dishes and pack a few more meat dishes after eating. They plan to cook the vegetables at home, so there are only a few green leafy vegetables in the cafeteria, about 2 items a day.
The canteen of Xinyi Nursing Home is open to residents.
Model 4: Time-honored brands become the first choice for the elderly
For every 1,000 meal vouchers, about 800 are canceled at Dafugui, which is the community canteen in the eyes of the elderly.
On an ordinary summer noon, the streets and alleys are filled with the aroma of food. The entrance of Dafugui Restaurant on Bansongyuan Road, Tibet South Road, is crowded with people.
Entering the store, the signboard of "Yishitang-Community Elderly Canteen" immediately comes into view. Looking around, most of the people dining in the restaurant are elderly people. They are very familiar with Dafugui's food and can quickly name the dishes without looking at the menu when ordering.
The front desk teller said that Dafugui South Tibet Road store will write off 300 to 500 meal coupons in one day.
Dafugui has a rich variety of products and delicious flavors, giving the elderly more choices - the three fresh wontons are light and warm for the stomach, the pork ribs rice cake is delicious with red sauce, the large row of cold noodles can relieve the heat of the summer, and the red bean and lotus heart soup can be used as an after-dinner dessert , Grilled bran can be served under rice, and various meat and vegetable buns can be packed as breakfast for the next day. There are also various kinds of sauced duck, smoked fish, and red sausage, which are suitable for chatting with wine when two or three friends get together.
In addition, for some residents, Dafugui is closer than the community canteen in the street. Convenience is also one of the main factors considered by the elderly.
In fact, Dafugui has become a community canteen where many elderly people vote with their feet. According to Xi Weizhong, general manager of Dafugui, starting from December 2020, Dafugui has benefited the most from the meal assistance project for the elderly. Out of every 1,000 meal coupons issued by the street to the elderly, about 800 are in Dafugui. Wealth write-off. So far, Dafugui has served a total of 447,000 people in the elderly meal assistance activities, driving an amount of nearly 2.235 million yuan.
Although self-built community canteens are affordable, safe and reliable, the food categories are still limited. Today, the elderly have an increasing demand for food. They not only want to "eat full", but also "eat well". They hope to have balanced nutrition, good health, rich categories, exquisite uniqueness, and good taste; Not only do you want to eat well, but you also need a good place to eat. I hope that the dining environment is clean, bright, spacious, and even personalized and has an accent. It is best that the dining place can also meet the needs of social space.
There are currently two Dafugui restaurants in the jurisdiction that have joined the elderly canteens and can cancel meal vouchers. Next, Dafugui will also be included, and the streets will be further explored in the future to allow more time-honored brands to join the catering spots. At present, Huangpu District takes advantage of the many time-honored brands in the district, such as Shao Wansheng and Guangming Village, and has become a meal support spot in all streets in the district.
Model 5: Market enterprises join the government and return to the "service" role
The team will set up a location every two weeks and conduct on-site inspections regularly. There is an access mechanism and an elimination mechanism
Xinfuhui Handmade Dim Sum Store is very popular among residents. This year, Bansongyuan Road Subdistrict has incorporated it into the canteen for the elderly, and the elderly can use meal vouchers to buy their favorite snacks.
At present, the street has introduced more than ten companies as canteens for the elderly, and has a set of selection criteria to implement survival of the fittest.
First of all, from the perspective of safety and normative factors, the Bansongyuan Road Market Supervision and Administration Office provides a basic list of high-quality catering companies.
Secondly, search within the list of regulatory agencies based on geographical location. For example, take a certain community as the center and a 10-minute walking circle around it as the range.
For Bansongyuan Road, there are fewer street shops south of Zhongshan South Road, making it a "blind spot" for restaurants. This year, the street specially selected two restaurants, Zuojiazhuang and Braised Beef Noodles, south of Zhongshan South Road. The former focuses on meals, while the latter focuses on pasta and is currently negotiating with enterprises. Through visits, community cadres also discovered that Zengchun Handmade Dessert Shop was newly opened at the intersection of Nanzhan Road and Zhongshan South Road. It received good reviews from the elderly and has been in business for 2 months. After inspection and connection with the street, it has been successfully included in the list of meal support spots. .
Thirdly, catering categories try to meet diversified needs, covering pasta, dim sum, local dishes, cooked food, set meals and other types. For example, Xilingjiazhai Road is building a street and a road. In the future, the specialty food restaurants on this road, as long as they meet the approval of the market supervision agency, may become canteens for the elderly, and the food on this road will be included in the scope of meal assistance.
Recently, some residents have reported through various channels that the elderly ethnic minorities in the jurisdiction need halal food and beverage outlets. To this end, community cadres found a canteen in a nursing home that provided halal food and could deliver meals to their doorsteps.
On weekdays, a small team composed of the street service office, the elderly office, neighborhood committee community cadres, and supervision office staff will conduct regular on-site inspections at one location every two weeks. There must be an access mechanism and an elimination mechanism. According to the street introduction, first, if problems are discovered during regular inspections, they will be reported as soon as possible and vetoed with one vote.
The second is to vote with your feet based on the verification voucher data for the elderly. For example, in the past six months, the number of write-off coupons used by Dongding was very small, less than 5% of the amount issued. An early warning was directly activated in the background, and the inspection team immediately went to understand the situation.
Residents reported that the dine-in environment of this restaurant is not good, the space is small, and it specializes in takeaways. During the lunch peak, takeaways queue up at the door and are packed with mopeds, making it almost impossible for the elderly to squeeze in. As a result, the street eliminated Dongding and took over the brand name of the Elderly Canteen.
Xinfuhui Handmade Dim Sum Store is very popular among residents.
However, the market mechanism will also create some new problems. Some catering companies that are popular with ordinary people are not willing to participate.
When asked about the reason, the company did not lack customers, and the business was too good to be done in time. Once participating in the canteen for the elderly, the street will require the company to open special seats for the elderly in the store and improve the food to suit the taste of the elderly, which the company "finds it troublesome." In this regard, the street is considering some plans, such as helping to enhance the visibility of the company, or providing incentives and subsidies.
"We hope to attract more catering companies with good reputation and good quality through various methods to truly provide the elderly with a rich and affordable high-quality dining experience," Xia Lingxia said.
In the future, the street further plans to open a public welfare afternoon tea shop for the elderly and introduce some skilled people with disabilities to make coffee and snacks. Another example is opening up public spaces for community residents to make reservations for making mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, making rice dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival, and making dumplings during the Lantern Festival. We hope to explore a high-quality catering model for the elderly in which the government provides high-quality services, the market operates efficiently, multiple entities participate, and dining options are diverse.
