During Spring Festival holiday, with booming domestic tourism, the catering industry also witnessed a peak in business. Hotpot chain Haidilao saw an influx of customers at its stores nationwide. From Feb 10 to 17, they served about 13 million people, a 35 percent increase from last year.

Haidilao shared that during this holiday, their stores in Xi'an remained the busiest, serving more than 650,000 people, followed by other southern cities like Haikou, Sanya, Beihai, Fuzhou, and Xiamen, which also saw a rise in customers.

With China and other countries relaxing visa policies, many Chinese tourists went abroad for Lunar New Year. In Singapore, Haidilao introduced a special dish called "hotpot lo hei" with local flavors, giving customers a taste of traditional celebrations.

To cater to diverse tastes, Haidilao introduced new dishes, like seafood options in Qingdao and traditional snacks like fried glutinous rice cakes in Jinhua. The snack area in their stores became very busy, with chefs frying hundreds of servings daily, especially during the holiday.

Kui Liping, the snack chef at a branch in Jinhua, said, "We have to fry at least 500-600 snacks every day, and during Spring Festival, we can reach nearly 1,000 servings. On average, each table orders more than two servings."