Catering to the online crowd
Considering the promising market, restaurants, such as Grandma's Home, have embraced the online trend, either by opening online shops on major takeout platforms or by launching their own WeChat accounts or mobile applications.
Haidilao, the popular hot pot restaurant chain, has rolled out an online service to deliver a hot pot meal, complete with a steaming pot of soup and electric hot plate, to customers' homes.
"Some of brands have also established their own customer relationship management systems in a bid to employ big data technology to better understand and serve customers' needs," said Wang Xinmiao, a Beijing-based mobile application marketing expert.
The prospering online economy has also given birth to a plethora of popular local food chains, like Huangtaiji Pancake and Funiutang, in which cooking method, dishes, and marketing strategies are tailored to the online economy, experts noted.
For example, Huangtaiji's printed quotes on customer receipts - an idea taken from the classic fortune cookie - have generated buzz on social media, Wang said. He called the quotes the embodiment of "Internet thinking."
In addition, restaurants are paying more and more attention to customer reviews on online takeout applications, experts said.
In the past, location was vital for restaurants because they needed pedestrian traffic to succeed. Nowadays, however, a restaurant sinks or swims based on its online reputation, said the PR representative of ele.me.
A lone shadow
The industry is not free of problems. Food safety issues have cast a shadow on the industry, experts noted.
In March, for example, a television news expose uncovered that a major online takeout platform was allowing restaurants with terrible sanitation conditions to produce dishes and make deliveries, according to a report on China Central Television.
Authorities have stepped up efforts to address the issue. More than 8,000 unqualified online restaurants on major food delivery applications have been shut down as of September 9, the Beijing Food and Drug Administration said in a statement on its website.
Due to the improved oversight, experts are confident about the prospects of the online takeout sector.
"The kitchens in modern homes are seldom visited," Yang said. "The young people in big cities are bidding farewell to traditional Chinese thinking about eating, and restaurants are adopting to the online economy."
"But if there is one thing that the online sector cannot innovate, it's the Chinese appetite for eating."
