Young start-ups remodel China's food delivery market
- By Verena Menzel
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In 2015 the Chinese market for online delivery-service providers reached a business volume of RMB 45.8 billion, around US $7 billion. |
Good food is the foundation of genuine happiness," so-called French "king of chefs" and "chef of kings" Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), celebrated for his book Le Guide Culinaire, once said. However, these days the kitchen in many households is often a cold, deserted place. Urbanites in particular seem to have bid farewell to the cooking tradition, and some are incapable of preparing a regular meal on their own.
The tradition of mothers and grandmothers handing down culinary expertise to their daughters and granddaughters from their post at the cooker is gone. The reality today is that we spend far less time in the good old home kitchen than we did just a few decades ago.
The large-scale international survey carried out last March by GfK, Germany's biggest consumer research association, proved this trend. Researchers asked the 27,000 participants, aged 15 and above from 22 countries, how much time they actually spent in their kitchen each week preparing food.
The astonishing results showed that participants from Great Britain and the U.S., for example, spend an average 5.9 hours each week in their kitchens, and at 5.8 hours a week, the figure for China was almost the same. However, all three countries scored below the worldwide average of 6.4 hours per week. In other words, these days the common people of Britain, the United States, and China spend less than one hour a day preparing their own meals.
No matter due to work or time pressure, or a larger disposable income that allows for time-saving and convenient alternatives, there are multiple reasons why today's big-city singletons – in either Boston or Beijing – are loath to peel their own onions in their own kitchens.
Although people in Britain or the U.S. are generally willing to supplement their calories from less nutritious sources like snacks, fast food, and instant meals, in China – country of gourmands – people are more selective.
Business savvy people, therefore, have made a virtue out of necessity by formulating online-to-offline business models that enable the ordering and delivery of nutritious and tasty meals as part of today's modern, high-pressure lifestyle.
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