"You have a new takeaway order..." Every time it is time for meals, many restaurants will ring such a reminder sound one after another. In Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, Caiji Longjiang Pig Feet Rice is no exception. "Diet-in can only cover two or three kilometers nearby, and takeout can expand the scope to five kilometers away, so that our consumer group will be even larger." The owner Yan Zesen said that the combination of dine-in and takeout is a trend in operating catering, and takeout revenue accounts for more than half.

Take-out has not only changed people's catering consumption habits, broadened the revenue channels of catering stores, but also injected new vitality into the development of time-honored catering.

At the end of last year, Quanjude opened its first pure takeaway store - Quanjude Roast Duck is here (Beijing Wangjing Store). "This store has become a pilot program of takeaway shops in Quanjude's new operating model according to the standards of lightweight, fast-paced and pure takeaway." Zhou Yanlong, general manager of China Quanjude Group, told reporters that in terms of business strategy, the new store focuses on the "mix and match" of roast duck and hot dishes, and drives the average order price through roast duck sets to avoid a price war with other catering brands. "Online takeaway stores help time-honored brands increase their market share. Meituan Takeaway page shows that the monthly sales of this store have exceeded more than 1,000 orders," said Zhou Yanlong.

The "2024 China Catering Industry Annual Report" released by the China Hotel Association shows that in 2023, the scale of my country's catering takeaway market is about 1.2 trillion yuan, accounting for 22.6% of catering revenue. Online marketing models such as takeaway have become an important profit channel for catering companies.

In order to adapt to changes in demand, the majority of catering merchants have also accelerated their digital transformation and expanded new services through online ordering, take-out delivery, self-pickup, and instant delivery in-store. With the accelerated application of new technologies, the online takeaway form has also been constantly evolving, giving birth to more new online takeaway business formats, such as takeaway satellite stores, pinhao fries, customized services, etc.

Hongji Liang Rice Noodles has been founded in Yuxi City, Yunnan Province for more than 30 years. It is well-liked by locals for its special sauce and stable production. However, due to the small dine-in area, customers often queue up, and there is a threshold for delivery for takeaway, which makes the store's evaluation mixed.

"Since the launch of Pinhao Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried Fried F Now, the daily order volume of Hongjiliang rice noodles is about 130 more than before.

"Although the development of takeaway has faced some problems since its birth, with the growth of online takeaway platforms and the changes in consumer habits, takeaway is not only one of the fastest iterative industries, but also continues to spawn new consumption growth points." said Shi Xiaoming, chairman of the Takeaway Professional Committee of the China Hotel Association.

In the past, takeaway was just "carrying delicious food"; now, with the help of instant retail, relying on the diversified and intelligent distribution system, fresh food, medicines, beauty, digital products and other categories can be delivered to home. "Take-out is no longer a single catering delivery service, but has developed into a complete ecosystem, including catering brands, packaging materials companies, raw material suppliers, agent operators, shared travel and other fields." Shi Xiaoming said.

Now, takeout has become an indispensable part of people's daily life. Data from the China Internet Information Center shows that the number of online takeaway users in my country has reached 545 million, accounting for about 50% of the total number of netizens. While there is a certain degree of saturation trend in big cities, the average annual compound growth rate of county-level daily takeaway orders exceeds 40%. While optimizing the urban stock market structure, there is great potential for "sinking" to the strongly growing county takeaway market, and takeaway has covered more than 2,000 county towns across the country.

The takeaway market with an economic scale of over one trillion yuan was born from a large army of tens of millions of riders who were in a storm. Data shows that there are currently more than 10 million takeaway riders nationwide. According to platform data, Ele.me has more than 4 million active riders; Meituan's riders have climbed to 7.45 million at an average annual growth rate of nearly 20%, and the number will continue to grow rapidly in 2024.

"Take takeout expands the time and space of consumption." said Li Jiwei, executive director of Meituan Research Institute. With the continuous advancement of technology and the diversification of consumer demand, more and more merchants are now constantly innovating service supply with the help of Internet platforms. Some have been extended to 24 hours, and some provide more personalized and customized services. This will not only help improve the supply level of catering companies, retail stores and other business entities, but will also further promote the release of consumption potential, ignite the "fireworks" of people's livelihood, and play a greater role in expanding domestic demand. (Economic Daily reporter Ji Leilei)