China’s restaurant chains show good revenues in growing market

That is according to a report on the catering industry by Research & Markets, which also found that the fast-food market is maintaining strong momentum. The market researcher assessed that the overall food-service industry will have grown to be worth over RMB3.5bn by the end of this year.

Mass catering accounts for some 80% of China’s food-service revenues, making it key industry. Demand is currently being guided by consumer demand for safe foods, healthy products and specialty goods. 

Within this segment, small and niche restaurants, chain outlets selling single products, weddings and shopping mall catering businesses form the basis for future trends. 

New industrial models are also experiencing rapid growth, with fast food, group buying, hot pot and leisure catering business all experiencing a boom, Research & Markets found. 

They identified that snack foods, community catering, shopping mall food courts, take-away and health foods were also among the growth segments. 

The food service segment looks like it will soon be seeing 18% annual growth as more than 100 major different domestic catering groups evolve distinctive regional characteristics and account for annual turnover of over RMB1bn alone. 

Employing over 25m workers, the food service segment is expected to grow by 800 staple food processing and distributing centres, and 160,000 outlets, according to Research & Markets.