Behind the scenes, there are also these details. Shanghai's community canteens are unforgettable? Good food and affordable is the king's way for residents | communities | canteens
Recently, the Gumeidonglan Community Elderly Canteen, located in Hongmei Street, Xuhui District, opened its trial operation. The Shanghai Green Restaurant at 3 yuan per bowl, the Benbang Duck Leg with thick oil and red sauce at 9 yuan per bowl, the quail egg Braised pork belly at 10 yuan per bowl... The affordable price and food volume made this community canteen, which can accommodate 64 people, quickly gain high popularity among residents. The payment method of combining manual charging and intelligent settlement also provides convenience for residents of different ages to buy food.
In Xuhui District, there are currently 27 community elderly canteens like this, and there are 142 elderly meal assistance places in the entire district, with a total daily supply capacity of about 20000 customers. In recent years, Xuhui District has continuously improved its meal assistance service system. Through the construction of the "15 minute community life circle", the community cafeteria has been embedded in the "life box" at the doorstep of residents, forming a convenient meal supply network covering 13 streets and towns in the entire district.
What kind of cafeteria is unforgettable
"The dishes and activities of the community cafeteria are very rich, but the final evaluation still depends on the people, especially the elderly, whether they eat well or not, and whether they are convenient to eat." The relevant person in charge of Hongmei Street said that the operation of the community cafeteria should be good, first looking at the location, second looking at the aging environment, services and dishes, third looking at the neighborly relationship between the cafeteria and residents, and fourth looking at continuous research and improvement of management and services.
In 2022, Xuhui District proposed the new concept of a one-stop community service "life box" for people's livelihood. The "Neighborhood Hui Party and Mass Service Center" will be built in the most convenient and prominent location along the street in residential areas, equipped with basic functional facilities such as community canteens, community health service stations, community cultural and sports facilities, and community bathing aids. The number of community canteens in the entire district has increased from 11 at the end of 2021 to 27, making dining options more convenient and diverse for the elderly.
In order to enhance the enthusiasm of market entities to participate in providing meals for the elderly, Xuhui District has explored an operating model mainly based on "government funding+state-owned enterprise assistance+professional operation", which prioritizes state-owned enterprises to own housing, government funding for decoration, and professional institution operation. The government and operators have agreed on the operation period, preferential objects, and preferential intensity. In this way, while reducing the operational pressure of the cafeteria, it can also improve the quality of food through market-oriented competition.
At present, the Xuhong Community Canteen located at No. 11 Xuhong North Road is not only a popular dining destination for residents of Xujiahui Street, but also attracts residents from surrounding streets and other areas to come. As a street facing community cafeteria, this place adopts a cooperative operation model between the street and private enterprises, providing residents with three meals a day. The Zhongleshan Community Canteen, also located in Xujiahui Street, is jointly operated by Shanghai New Xuhui Vegetable Basket, a state-owned enterprise of the district, and Xujiahui Street. In actual operation, Hengyue Catering, a Michelin Recommended Restaurant, is hired as the supervisor to ensure quality and taste.
However, whether it is state-owned enterprises participating or private enterprises assuming their own profits and losses, the problem that community canteens need to solve is the same: meeting the food needs of residents, especially the elderly. A civil affairs worker described the challenges faced by the elderly meal assistance industry: miniaturization of family structure, fewer children, and aging of residents, making more and more elderly people in the community need different gradients of meal assistance services. The government's support cannot last long, and only by being able to self generate can one see the merit. The key to stable profitability for community canteens is to gain lasting recognition from the general public.
"The prices of dishes in community canteens are about 10% cheaper than those in Chinese fast food restaurants on the market." Lu Xiaofeng, the head of the operation of the Caohejing Community Elderly Canteen, introduced that with government subsidies of 10% off for people over 60 years old and 85% off for people over 70 years old, elderly people can enjoy a set meal that includes one meat, one vegetable, and one small meat for less than 20 yuan here. Elderly people with small appetites can also pack it for dinner. The "Shishang Shushe" Elderly Canteen on Nandan Road in Xujiahui Street has set a maximum price limit of 25 yuan for dishes. A bowl of 16 small Wonton with a price of more than 15 yuan in the market is only 10 yuan. People over 70 years old are nearly half cheaper than the market price after 85% discount.
But affordable prices are not enough to attract frequent visits from residents, and the location of community canteens is often crucial. In Xuhui District, the street town determined the location of the cafeteria by conducting preliminary research, analyzing the family structure of surrounding elderly residents, sensitive price ranges, and combining with the layout of "life boxes". The "66 wutong Yard" neighborhood restaurant and "550 Lane · Neighborhood Huiwu Lixiang Canteen" located in Tianping Road Street provide 1600 meals per day. The street takes advantage of the characteristics of the "slow traffic block" in the Hengfu style area to select a location, allowing the cafeteria to be within a 15 minute walk of residents, thereby attracting a continuous stream of popularity.
How to view the "intelligence" of canteens
In terms of dish quality, community canteens have also undergone a transformation from being "affordable" for residents to "delicious" and "delicious".
At present, sugar free windows, light windows and salty windows for diabetes patients can be found in community canteens. Some canteens also use on-site handcrafted steamed buns and deep-fried dough sticks to replace the cold chain transportation and on-site reheated meals in the central kitchen, providing residents with four King Kong breakfasts "with the taste of childhood alleys". At the Caohejing community cafeteria, the rice cooked at 10:30am every day is softer and more glutinous than the one cooked at 12:00am, as the former is the usual lunch time for the elderly and the latter is the peak for white-collar workers. The most popular lion's head among residents is seasoned with horse hooves and rice to reduce greasiness and reduce the burden on the elderly.
"The essence of community canteens is to provide meals for the elderly, so we need to return to the essence of serving the elderly." The relevant person in charge of Caohejing Street said that an aging friendly environment is actually the key to retaining elderly diners, such as the corners of tables and chairs should be made into a circular arc shape, the seat cushion should be soft and not collapse, the floor tiles should be made of anti slip materials, and there should be no obvious height difference at the entrance. In addition to air conditioning, the Caohejing community cafeteria has also installed ceiling fans to meet the preferences of the elderly for natural wind.
The Binjiang Shui'an Community Canteen located in Longhua Street, Xuhui District not only uses traditional cooking stoves, but also innovatively adopts digital cooking equipment such as intelligent stir fryers, intelligent steaming ovens, and intelligent noodle ovens. The settlement equipment in the cafeteria also uses AI recognition, and the backend can automatically monitor the expiration date of ingredients through information management and issue a deadline warning.
The discussion about the digital transformation of community canteens has a long history. Li Zhenyu, the person in charge of the Binjiang Waterfront Canteen, introduced that smart devices can indeed reduce the labor and supply chain costs of community canteens, and standardized operations can also help improve food safety and reduce ingredient loss. But he also emphasized that intelligence is always auxiliary. "Chinese cuisine cooking has its complexity, and from the perspective of ordinary people, robot stir frying lacks the 'soul', that is, the 'pot air'. Intelligent devices are currently only suitable for assisting extensive work in canteens, and the refined cooking process still needs to be completed manually."
Make good use of community cafeteria carriers and traffic
The proportion of community canteens delivering elderly meals is increasing year by year. The elderly cafeteria located at 317 Damuqiao Road in Xietu Neighborhood Food Community can accommodate 79 people for meals at the same time, and can serve up to 650 elderly people per day, with delivery accounting for more than 1/4. Xujiahui Street is currently adjusting the daily meal assistance volume of the street delivery center and allocating it to 5 community canteens within the jurisdiction for nearby delivery. In addition to selling 600 dine in meals per day, the Nandan Road community cafeteria also has to undertake the production task of serving 200 elderly meals.
"Attracting diverse customer groups such as white-collar workers to dine in community cafeterias can also generate profits that can be used to subsidize the cost of providing meals for the elderly," said a community cafeteria manager. It is reported that Xuhui District is currently cooperating with delivery platforms to explore the "three one point" model of "elderly people bear a little, street subsidies a little, and enterprises give a little advantage" in food delivery, in order to maintain a discounted price of 12 yuan per meal and delivery fees of up to 2 yuan.
The elderly cafeteria in Shanghai has undergone a transformation from "nothing to something" to "something better". As an important carrier of elderly population flow, community cafeterias are also constantly extending other elderly and value-added services, breaking the traditional positioning of "cafeterias are just dining points".
In Xuhui, community canteens are gradually integrating into the "living box" at the doorstep of residents, where residents can enjoy all-weather, one-stop services with just one exit. The Hongxin Community Canteen located in Longhua New Village is under the same roof as the Community Health Station and Party Mass Service Center. This community, which has undergone the transformation from "three old" to "three new", has added composite functions such as meal assistance, medical treatment, and social interaction. In addition to providing more than 60 kinds of dishes every day, the community canteen on Xuhong North Road has a community health service station that integrates traditional Chinese medicine services, cultural appreciation and health management. The community supermarket is downstairs, and the convenience services such as "3:30 class", parent-child baking, bath and hairdressing, and roof vegetable garden are provided upstairs, realizing the integration of functions such as "medical TESCO Group".
This year's Yuanxiao (Filled round balls made of glutinous rice-flour for Lantern Festival), Xujiahui Sub district, together with three community canteens in its jurisdiction, held the "Chef God Contest" to let residents find their favorite dishes through blind selection. Xietu Street invites representatives of the National People's Congress, members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, lawyers, members of the catering industry association, and community residents to establish a "food management committee", which conducts monthly on-site supervision and regularly collects suggestions from the elderly, allowing residents to enjoy the "primary voice" in the operation of community canteens.
In the Nandan Road community cafeteria, a protective eye light is placed on the wall seats, and every afternoon, primary and secondary school students carrying backpacks come here to do homework. "This is prepared for students waiting for their parents after school. In the next step, we will also launch a student nutrition package priced at 18 yuan per serving, which includes dishes that combine staple food, miscellaneous grains, fruits, and meat and vegetables." The relevant person in charge of Xujiahui Street introduced. It is reported that under the premise of serving the elderly group well, Xuhui District is continuously promoting the provision of dining convenience for elderly meal assistance service points to students, white-collar workers, environmental sanitation workers, coordinators, road police, etc., further strengthening the effective utilization of public resources, and making community canteens more humane and lively.
