China's catering industry began topick up in late May with the
steadily improving SARS situation.
The number of diners at restaurants is rising gradually and
thecatering enterprises have reported increased business volumes,
according to a survey on China's key catering businesses, carried
out by the China's Cuisine Association.
The survey, which was disclosed here Tuesday, showed that the
turnover of the surveyed catering enterprises dropped by 53 percent
in May as compared with April and by 66.5 percent over thesame
period of last year.
However, the survey showed that in late May, the turnover and
number of diners at the surveyed restaurants were 39 percent and 59
percent more than that for early May, and were 24 percent and 23
percent more than the middle of May.
The recovery of catering businesses is attributed to both the
improved severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) situation in
China and prompt, effective measures taken by enterprises to change
their ways of operating and to better serve customers.
Moreover, the survey shows that most of the restaurants have
adopted measures encouraging diners to eat separately by dishes and
take food home. Many of the restaurants revised their menus
toprovide more nutritious foods instead of game foods.
(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2003)
