Residents line up with enamel bowls and bowls. Vegetables cost 2 yuan... The community in Shanghai has opened a "small canteen", and Braised pork belly costs 5 yuan mobile | community | canteen
52 door openings, 1/3 of which are elderly people over 75 years old. Except for a few elderly people over 80 years old who enjoy community meal assistance services, the vast majority of residents have to solve the problem of "buying and burning" on their own. This is the dilemma that Baosteel Eleven Village in the old residential area faced before.
Despite being located in the central urban area of Baoshan, with a 10 minute walk to the vegetable market, the high summer temperatures still pose a challenge for the elderly to buy groceries and cook. For elderly people who value affordability, although there are socialized restaurants along the Friendship Branch Road and Pangu Road at the entrance, one person has to eat 20 to 30 yuan after a meal, which is more expensive. Ordering takeout is not in line with lifestyle habits. Residents are asking, is there a cost-effective and convenient way to eat?
Last Monday, the community meal aid convenience point in Baosteel Eleven Village, Youyi Road Street, Baoshan District opened, bringing residents a long-awaited new dining option, also affectionately known as the "small canteen at the doorstep".
A small row for 200 people, sold out in 20 minutes
"At the doorstep" means nearby and can be reached without leaving the community. In the northwest corner of Baosteel Eleven Village Community, a 30 square meter pavilion was originally a living space for party member organizations, and its usage frequency was not too high. Coincidentally, the community's pilot program for convenient meal assistance requires a fixed venue, so the neighborhood committee added meal assistance functions after seeking the consent of residents. It is said to be a "cafeteria", but in reality, the meal aid points do not have cooking equipment. The dishes come from the central kitchen of Shanghai Jialin Catering Management Co., Ltd., a meal aid enterprise, and are packaged in insulated boxes and delivered to the community for sale by a dedicated vehicle.
Last Friday at 10:20 am, with 10 minutes left until the arrival of the dining car, a long queue of 30-40 people had already formed outside the pavilion, each with their own plastic lunch boxes or enamel bowls and bowls. Mr. Liu Jinxiang, who lives on the 19th, left the door after 10 o'clock and was in the middle of the queue. He said that early arriving residents started queuing up for "Ga San Hu" around 9 o'clock. Elderly people wake up early and eat early, which is also the reason why the meal aid market starts at 10:30. However, residents have noticed that the reputation of the "small cafeteria at their doorstep" has spread rapidly. Not only do residents of this community come to visit, but also residents of several neighboring communities come to hear it, accelerating the speed of food sales. As a result, some residents who are worried that they won't be able to buy it later can only arrive earlier.
The concerns of residents are not unreasonable. In just a few days, the specialty of the "Little Canteen" has gained good reputation. Residents remind each other that "after 11:30, there will be no choice." Last Tuesday at noon, 100 pieces of Braised pork belly were prepared. Four residents bought 30 pieces of Braised pork belly, and the most people took 10 pieces at a time. Last Thursday, the small row with a capacity of 200 people sold out in 20 minutes, but later it was restocked and sold quickly. Jialin Catering Manager Liu Yimin told reporters that the convenient meal aid is currently in the trial operation stage, and the dishes are transported from the central kitchen located on Baoyang Road after daily fresh cooking, with a drive of only 10 minutes. To ensure cleanliness and hygiene without waste, the lunch supply is 200 people, and corresponding adjustments will be made according to the actual situation of the community in the future.
In the interview, several elderly residents expressed that it is very convenient to have meal assistance points in the community, "you can eat them when you buy them home", and sometimes bring dinner with you, saving you the need for an extra trip. The core reason that attracts them to visit continuously is more affordable. Take the afternoon market menu on August 18 as an example. Osmanthus Braised pork belly, braised pork chops, sweet and sour pork chops, Yuanbao shrimp, smoked fish are all 5 yuan, shredded meat is 3 yuan, fried vegetables and green leafy vegetables are 2 yuan. There are 20 dishes, mainly meat dishes, supplemented by vegetable dishes. The staple food includes rice, Steamed rolls, Mantou cut with knives, and optional cakes, cookies and other baked cakes. An aunt said that she bought a small dish and a vegetarian dish for a total of 7 yuan, and the rice was cooked at home. "So affordable, where can I buy it outside?"
Xia Min, the secretary of the residential area of Baosteel 11th Village, introduced that after receiving the menu sent by the catering company the next day, the neighborhood committee cadres will send the menu to the group leader of the building, and then the group leader will forward it to various corridor groups. The community will also publish it synchronously on the social media. "Residents have a clear idea of what dishes they will have tomorrow and what they like," Xia Min said. Preliminary research shows that not only elderly residents have a high demand for community meal assistance, but also office workers and parent-child families have responded warmly. In order to meet everyone's needs, the "Little Canteen at Home" currently serves three meals a day, 6:30-8:30 for breakfast and 16:30-18:30 for dinner. "Young residents report from the crowd that they don't have to worry about hunger when they rush out in the morning. They can buy steamed stuffed buns, deep-fried dough sticks sticks and soybean milk when they turn to the pavilion. They can also buy dinner when they come back in the evening, so that children can have dinner earlier."
Why are residents willing to accept mobile dining cars entering the community
What should we do if there is no suitable venue to set up fixed meal assistance points in the community?
Through the coordination of Youyi Road Street, in response to the high demand for dining in some communities with insufficient surrounding catering facilities and concentrated conflicts, mobile food trucks are used to deliver meals to the community for assistance. The size of the dining car is equivalent to that of a small RV, with stainless steel kitchen equipment and a refrigerator inside. The compartment has been modified to open on one side, similar to the mobile pizza, hot dog car, and ice cream car in film and television works.
At 11:30 noon, parked at the Jialin Catering Mobile Meal Truck next to the central square of Baoshan Sixth Village, two staff members were already working on finishing the work. There were only 4 dishes of 20 dishes left with a small amount remaining. The staff introduced that they drove into the community at 9:50 am to start preparing. At 10:20 am, residents waited in line, and like the fixed community meal aid, it was sold out in about an hour. "Some residents only found out about our dining car when they saw someone else's packaged food, and came over with curiosity to buy a portion."
Looking at the few remaining dishes, Mr. Yao, a resident, did not make any purchases. The reason was that the vegetarian dishes were gone, and the fish in the meat dishes were cooked with chopped peppers, which his mother couldn't bear to eat. Mr. Yao suggested that elderly people tend to be more vegetarian, and he hopes that in the future, there will be more variety of vegetarian dishes, and the cooking methods of meat dishes will be as little oil and salt as possible. Some residents also expressed that people are now paying attention to healthy eating and hope that catering companies can showcase the types of rice, flour, grains, and oils they use.
Is the acceptance of mobile dining cars among residents quite high when they first enter the community? A resident told reporters that they were relieved to learn that the dishes provided by the mobile dining car and the shared restaurant of the street community party and mass service center come from the same central kitchen. "I've tried it there before, and the taste is pretty good."
As soon as you reach the floor where the shared restaurant is located at the Party and Mass Service Center of Youyi Road Street Community, you can smell the aroma of the food. During the summer vacation, many parents bring their children to participate in activities and relax their studies. With a restaurant, they don't have to go out for lunch under the scorching sun. At 12:30 noon, I thought the peak dining period had passed, but the shared restaurant was still hard to find. According to the relevant person in charge, the restaurant covers an area of approximately 140 square meters and initially only had 10 dining tables, which could accommodate 40 people dining at the same time. However, after operation, it was found that the flow of people has steadily increased, and currently, it can accommodate two to three hundred people daily at noon. In order to reduce waiting time, the Party and Mass Service Center has temporarily opened two activity rooms for people to have lunch. Mr. Qiao, who lives in the surrounding community, bluntly stated that he deliberately took his two children to avoid the peak hours for meals. "Come at 11 or 12 o'clock, there are too many people in line, and the experience is not very good."
Even if it's a late meal, Mr. Qiao is still willing to come mainly because of the cost-effectiveness. In terms of price, the roast chicken wing root is 3.5 yuan or two, the Stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs is 2.2 yuan or two, the boiled beef is 1.8 yuan or two, and rice and soup are free. Mr. Qiao and his two children spent a total of over 40 yuan on a meal. The reason for using this pricing method is that the shared restaurant adopts a self-service pick-up and automatic settlement mode. When customers pick up their plates, they scan the QR code of the plate and bind it. After self-service pickup, the plate is placed in the sensing area, and the pickup machine automatically weighs and settles the price. The restaurant manager stated that this is to advocate for "how much to eat and how much to take" and avoid waste. Through the data accumulated in the background, the restaurant can also grasp the sales data of dishes and adjust the dishes reasonably based on the ranking list and peak periods of dining.
In order to ensure that residents can eat with peace of mind and satisfaction, Youyi Road Street is vigorously promoting the "doorstep" food project. Zhang Weiling, Director of the Community Service Office of the street, introduced that the street is actively building a three-level meal assistance network consisting of central shared restaurants, community meal assistance convenience points, and mobile meal trucks. It is accelerating the pilot of five community meal assistance fixed points, including Tongji Apartment and Baoshan Village, and laying out mobile meal trucks to enter the community. By promoting the quality and efficiency of the "doorstep" food project through a point to area approach, one community, one plan.
