快餐送货上门服务受欢迎

Ge Yan is the manager of a chain restaurant in Beijing. She says during the seemingly endless rainy days over the past two weeks, dozens of meal orders were phoned in daily.

"Usually we receive 15 to 20 orders at noon, but if it's rainy day, we could get about 30 orders."

Ge Yan says although they provide meals, they don't provide a delivery service, and all their deliveries are done by meal delivery service companies.

"No matter it's in winter or summer, meal delivery service companies are equipped with tailor-made meal delivery boxes, and apart from that, they are more familiar with the delivery routes around the city."

He says customers contact delivery service companies and order their meals according to the restaurant they want. Then the delivery service company sends the order to the restaurant, and comes to get the meal when it's ready. After they deliver the meal, the delivery service gets a fee.

Usually meal delivery service company charge 6 yuan for orders lower than 200 yuan, but meals above 200 yuan will be delivered without a service charge.

However, it doesn't mean that the delivery company makes no profit from the orders, as the meal delivery companies also get meals for their employees at discounted prices, while customers pay full prices.

Many restaurants say they like such orders, as no seat or service in their restaurant is required, and the cost of cleaning dishes is also saved. Meanwhile, meal delivery services are easy for customers who only have to dial to order. A woman surnamed Zhang is typical.

"The prices of home delivery are no different from the restaurants. The delivery service saves me lots of trouble. For instance, I probably need to take a taxi if I go to the restaurant in person, or maybe I have to wait in line outside the restaurant if it's rush hour. Nowadays when I am in the subway on the way home from work, I can order using my mobile phone."

The meal delivery service business is rising. But industry insiders say meal delivery service cannot be done simply using electric motorbikes. The companies need a large amount of capital. Here is Feng Weihua, operating director of a Beijing meal delivery service company.

"Meal delivery service companies need to establish a website, from which customers can order, and they must have a call center to receive phone calls. They also need to set up delivery team. These all cost money."

In addition, meal delivery companies also need a team to follow up and update the information on the dishes provided by the restaurants, so as to ensure the prices of the dishes on the website are the same as in the restaurants.

Currently, there are about 10 large meal delivery service companies in the capital city, however, most of them only cover select areas of the city.
 
For CRI, I am Wang Wei.