Continuous Recovery of Catering Consumption (Economic Focus · Focus on Service Consumption ①)

Service consumption is a major engine for expanding consumption. In the recent summer, the domestic consumer market has maintained a recovery trend, with tourism and other service consumption rebounding, which has a significant supporting effect on expanding consumption.

Expanding service consumption and promoting sustained boost in consumption of catering, cultural tourism, entertainment, sports, and exhibitions can not only fully leverage the driving effect of consumption on economic growth, but also continuously meet people's aspirations for a better life. Starting today, this edition will launch a series of reports on "Focusing on Service Consumption", exploring positive practices in various regions to innovate models, optimize services, and enrich forms, in order to further unleash consumer potential.

——Editor

Chongqing High tech Zone——

Extend the consumption period

Expand consumption scenarios

At 11 o'clock at night, the Xijie Jingjiao Barbecue Shop located in Huxi Street, Chongqing High tech Zone is bustling with activity. Grilled skewers, grilled fish, beer, braised dishes... More than a dozen tables inside and outside the restaurant were filled with people, and customers were enjoying themselves.

Eating a grilled fish and a few skewers of grilled meat in one breath, nearby resident Chen Qi felt extremely satisfied. She received a 50% or 90% discount coupon from the Jingshao Barbecue restaurant from the "Chongqing Xijie" mini program, which only cost 58 yuan. "Blow some evening breeze and have some barbecue, feel more at ease," Chen Qi said.

As one of the well-known food districts in Chongqing, Xijie has a dense "late night cafeteria" with an average annual passenger flow of over 20 million people. Driven by the continuous increase in passenger flow, major hotels on Xijie continue to extend their operating hours. Gu Qingyun, Director of Chongqing Xijie Operations Center, said, "We have launched various promotional gift packages on our mini program, offering discounts according to different time periods."

"Since the beginning of this year, Chongqing High tech Zone has taken multiple measures to promote digital consumption, boost the confidence of catering enterprises, and provide up to 1 million yuan of special support to catering enterprises that have obtained Chongqing's landmark dishes and used platforms such as mini programs, live broadcasts, and short videos for digital transformation." Lin Li, Secretary of the Party Group of the Reform and Development Bureau of Chongqing High tech Zone, introduced.

"On the one hand, we extend the consumption period, and on the other hand, we expand various consumption scenarios and optimize the consumption experience." Gu Qingyun said, "We have seized the consumption hotspots of young people and created various characteristic activities, including cultural tourism season, art and life festival, music festival, shopping festival, etc., making one appearance after another."

"When it comes to Xijie, the first thing that comes to mind is the rich and colorful night activities." Chongqing University student Wang Hao is currently touring Xijie Night Market with friends. "I have participated in music festivals, food festivals, shopping festivals, and other activities here, and recently, almost every weekend, I have made plans with my classmates to visit the 'Qiyu Market'."

It is reported that as of now, Chongqing High tech Zone has held 12 consumer promotion activities in Xijie, including the "2023 Huixiang Science City · Huigou Consumption Festival", graduation season music festival, and street dance competition. Lin Li said, "We are focusing on landmark nighttime economic clusters such as Xijie to stimulate the release of greater vitality in the consumer market."

Changsha, Hunan——

Promote the integration of business formats

Enhance humanistic connotations

As night fell, Mr. Hu, a resident of Changsha, arrived at the bustling Pozi Street in Tianxin District with his family. Strolling to the Changsha Central Impression City Mall on the street, they were attracted by a performance team dressed in Hanfu and ancient makeup.

Following the performance team, Mr. Hu and his family took the escalator to the basement level. "The architecture of the Song Dynasty style, such as the Moonlight Temple, Changle Square, and Chengnan Academy, is very realistic. Interestingly, the staff also dressed in ancient costumes to greet us. We seem to have traveled back to the Song Dynasty and experienced the bustling nightlife of ancient times!" Mr. Hu said.

In addition to the architecture with strong Song charm, the ancient and leisurely performance also attracted Mr. Hu and his family. After watching the performance, Mr. Hu and his family came to the "Tanzhou Market" again. Changsha Rice noodles, beef cakes, fried sausages, bundled chicken, small bowls of sweet wine... There were many local delicacies, and the whole family had a good time.

According to the staff of the operation center Impression City, in order to create the "Tanzhou Market", they restored the scene of the Song Dynasty Changsha Market and introduced more than 30 authentic Changsha cuisine into the shopping center. "We also innovate and combine various contents such as intangible cultural heritage experiences, striving to turn 'Tanzhou Market' into a new food check-in destination, attracting more citizens and tourists to come and experience."

Since its opening in August, the revenue of catering stores in Tanzhou Market has been steadily increasing. According to the operator, as of September 10th, the daily sales of catering in the market have increased by 32% compared to the trial operating period.

In addition to allowing consumers to taste delicious food, some shopping districts also create innovative situational experiences. On the evening of August 26th, in the South Chu characteristic cultural district of Zhongmao City, Changsha County, the "Ancient Capital of South Chu" was bustling with people under the night, and the stage play "Journey to the West" and face changing performances were extraordinary.

In recent years, Changsha has promoted the integration of food, culture, entertainment and other industries, actively meeting the diverse needs of consumers, and the continuous recovery of catering consumption. Some shopping malls and neighborhoods take the initiative to increase cultural connotations, allowing citizens and tourists to experience the profound historical and cultural heritage while enjoying the delicious food in Changsha.

Fujian Sanming——

Increase support efforts

Guiding standardized development

Fresh Steamed dumplings with willow leaves, crystal clear flat meat, and noodles covered with soy sauce... Not long ago, Sanming booth attracted many merchants and citizens at the 2023 Shanghai counterpart area specialty commodity fair held in Shanghai Exhibition Center.

In the exhibition experience area, the staff skillfully opened a bag of mixed noodles and added the prepared sauce packet. Five minutes later, an authentic Shaxian mixed noodles was served to Aunt Zhang, a visiting citizen. "It's delicious, just like what I ate in the Shaxian Snack Shop." After tasting it, Aunt Zhang ordered two bags of Steamed dumplings and six bags of noodles through the online small program of the store.

"Snacks and dishes are very popular, and they sold out in just two days. These are just restocked goods," said a staff member from Shuangrong Food in Shaxian County.

Aunt Zhang is a deep snack enthusiast, but she once lost interest in Shaxian snacks. "10 stores with 10 flavors, quality control really needs to be improved." Now, Aunt Zhang's love for Shaxian snacks has returned, and the secret lies in Sanming's exploration of the "central kitchen+cold chain logistics" model.

In recent years, in response to the low level of standardization in the development of the snack industry in Shaxian County, Sanming City has increased support and issued multiple industrial policies to guide the snack industry to extend upstream from stores. By cultivating planting bases, constructing snack industry parks, encouraging the development of the "central kitchen+cold chain logistics" model, and supporting the transformation and upgrading of cold chain circulation infrastructure, guiding the transformation and upgrading of stores, and promoting the transformation of the snack industry towards standardization, chain, industrialization, and digitization.

Yin Lixin, a snack shop owner from Shaxian County, has been going out to open a snack shop since his twenties. In March of this year, he opened his second shop in Shanghai. In the past, Yin Lixin had to wake up at 4am to make meat filling and dumplings. Today, in the standardized factory of Shaxian Snack Industrial Park, more than 300000 Steamed dumplings are transported to local Shaxian Snack Restaurants through the cold chain after fresh production and quick freezing every day.

"In just one noon, we sold more than 40 drawers of Steamed dumplings and more than 50 bowls of flat meat. At peak hours, we had to queue up. At noon, the turnover was more than 2000 yuan. Next year, I plan to open another store in Shanghai!" said Yin Lixin.

"From supporting the development of planting bases at the source, to promoting standardized production and cold chain logistics distribution, Sanming will promote the development of the catering industry through the Shaxian snack industry. In the future, more new development opportunities will be explored to promote the high-quality development of the catering industry in the city." The relevant person in charge of the Sanming Municipal Bureau of Commerce introduced.