Government support

Since December, many provinces and cities, including Hubei, Henan, Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, and Shenyang, the Liaoning provincial capital, have issued consumption vouchers and announced policies to boost the economy.

Some vouchers can be spent on virtually anything, while others are solely for food and beverages.

In Tianjin, the authorities are issuing vouchers worth a total of 115 million yuan ($16.9 million) in several rounds from Jan 11 to the end of this month, with 20 million allocated for the catering and tourism sectors.

In December, the Guangzhou Municipal Commerce Bureau launched measures to provide financial assistance to catering enterprises investing in infrastructure, such as by upgrading outlets, digital construction and building centralized kitchens.

The measures also encourage such enterprises to open branches outside the city and to raise the profile of intelligent services to improve capability and efficiency.

From Jan 2 to 15, about 50 restaurants in the Sanlitun area of Beijing offering cuisines from home and abroad celebrated Sanlitun Global Food Week to bring diners a worldwide culinary experience.

Themed "Delicious 100", the event was also aimed at boosting regional economic vitality. Each restaurant launched a special menu, with customers given the chance to spend 100 yuan to try three dishes from five recommended choices.

The food week was hosted by Chaoyang District Commerce Bureau and the Sanlitun subdistrict office.

Sun Shuguang, secretary of the Working Committee at the subdistrict office, said the event attracted more than 20,000 customers and resulted in sales of over 2 million yuan for the restaurants.

"Customers could experience a high-end restaurant with favorable prices, which stimulated consumption," he said.

Sun added that while customers enjoyed the event, restaurants in the area, including Michelin-starred establishments, also played an active part.

During the Spring Festival holiday, Sanlitun subdistrict launched consumption coupons in collaboration with China Construction Bank. Sun said that promoting the catering sector will attract more customers to the area, which will also boost consumption in other fields.

"The catering sector in Sanlitun has basically recovered to the pre-pandemic level," Sun added.