Take-out Market Breaks 300B Yuan in 2017: Meituan Revenue Exceeds 171B Yuan

Revenue in China’s catering industry exceeded 3.9 trillion yuan in 2017. The Chinese take-away market alone topped 300 billion yuan.

SEE ALSO: Meituan to Launch Car-Hailing Service in Multiple Cities

The proportion of the greater catering industry that is made up of the food delivery market has room to grow as food brands develop, younger customers enter the market and consumers value social responsibility, Jiang Junxian, chairman of the China Cuisine Association, said at the 2018 Meituan Take-Away Industry Conference.

Catering businesses should seize the dividend period of online and offline integration, he said.

Wang Puzhong, senior vice president of Meituan Dianping, said Meituan take-out’s turnover reached 171 billion yuan in 2017. Its business serves most counties with a population of more than 100,000, and provides delivery service to more than 2 million businesses. Takeout’s ability to extend business hours satisfies consumer demand for breakfast, afternoon tea and later night snacks, he said.

Yang Wenjie, general manager of business development at Meituan Dianping, said the number of take-out orders in the third- and fourth-tier cites is growing faster than in first- and second-tier cities. The third- and fourth-tier cites have become a driving force for take-out business. Other important ways to improve the business space of take-out is to improve service, enhance consumption and increase the average price of take-out orders.

Leaders of Hehegu and Burger King also shared their experience of cooperating with enterprises and take-out platforms. Zhao Shen, founder and chairman of Hehegu, said take-away enterprises have changed the operating model of traditional catering. Catering businesses had costly raw materials, rent, energy and labor, but low profits. The dilemma is solved by take-out platforms. Catering businesses can generate more revenue without a significant increase in costs.

An Jin, general manager of Burger King, said the cooperation with delivery platforms and catering businesses are “non-zero-sum”. Such cooperation brings win-win and mutual benefits to all participants. There are no losers but only winners. An said the online traffic provides opportunities for catering businesses to build their brand image and to diversify the interactive marketing mode between online and offline.