On August 28, the Chinese Restaurants Association revealed the rankings of the Top 500 companies in the Chinese catering industry. Beijing Quanjude topped the full meal class, while McDonald’s led in the fast food category. It is the first time for the Chinese Restaurants Association to release such kind of information based on the annual operating review.
Currently there are over 3.5 million restaurants employing a total of 15 million people. The statistics show that the business volume of the top 500 Chinese restaurants reached 24.77 billion yuan (US$299 million) in 2001, accounting for 57 percent of the total turnover of the entire industry.
From January to July this year, the total business volume reached 272.03 billion yuan (US$3.29 billion), an increase of 16 percent over the same period last year. Catering industry experts estimated the final figure would reach 500 billion yuan (US$6.04 billion). Meanwhile, three fields will see some breakthroughs: the first is the development of modern management methods of chain operations and network sales, so as to enhance community service functions; second is expansion into new operating areas, development of green restaurants, leading green consumption; the third is a faster pace in the transfer from traditional to modern restaurants, building large and strong restaurant group, and enlarging the sales network of the national market.
(china.org.cn by Zheng Guihong, September 7, 2002)
