A Hungry Industry InternetFood

A Hungry Industry Internet+FoodXiao Shu，a 33-year-old Beijing of-fice worker，hasbecome inseparable from her cellphone，and food apps suchas Dianping，Meituan and Baidu Takeout as well as shoppingapps such as Bee Quick，Tmall，and COFCOs Womai onlymake the problem worse.“An ancient Chinese goes，Firewood，rice，cooking oil，salt，soy sauce，vinegar and tea are the seven necessities oflife，”declares Xiao.“Today，all these things can bepurchased together online on some websites.Once in a while，I just fill up on what I need without going anywhere.”Shopping from HomeThe dramatic development of the internet，O2O inparticular，has brought dramatic changes to consumptionmethods as well as eating habits in China.Never has hunting for food been so easy.Delicacies can bedelivered to ones doorsteps after only a few taps on asmartphone.Delivery of semi-prepared meals is helpful forthose looking to entertain friends at home without enduring allof the headaches associated with cooking.It takes less than halfan hour to have salt delivered through some websites.“The accelerated rhythm of many peoples lives hashastened lazy economics，resulting in increasing need forfood delivery，”asserts Jiang Junxian，president of ChinaCuisine Association.“Online food delivery has maturedgradually，now drawing internet giants such as Baidu，Ali-baba，and Tencent.The breakneck progress of the internet hasrevolutionized life and work，transforming all trades and givingrise to a new industry?C internet+catering.The O2O cooperative pattern between e-commerce andcommunity convenience stores has made food delivery quickerand more efficient.After someone orders with a phone，thegoods，as small as a pack of cookies or as big as a case of soda，are delivered directly from the nearest convenience store.Freshfruit or snacks can be delivered for an office break for only 30yuan.This kind of convenience has led Chinas food and diningO2O into a“golden era”in terms of market access.Statisticsshow that in 2015，the country s O2O food delivery brought inUS$21.4 billion，an increase of 46.8 percent over 2014，andmarket expansion multiplied by 10 within five years.Embracing Internet+Today，internet technology has gradually infiltrated andupgraded the catering industry via positioning，payment，ordering，drainage，and big data，leading to an era ofincreasing efficiency.The disruption of the mobile internet inparticular has not only restructured the pattern of benefitdistribution in traditional catering but also acceleratedtransformation of the industry.“Given its organizationalfeatures，the catering industry has entered a micro erawherein enterprises have become more professional，specified，and popularized，”illustrates Han Ming，president of ChinaHotel Association.“Integration with the internet createsmassive potential，beefing up every segment fortransformation，from group purchasing and ordering totakeout and ratings.”In 2015，greater numbers oftraditional catering companies began to embrace O2O.InBeijing，many time-honored restaurants under the umbrella ofJu De Hua Tian（a well-known Beijing-based food franchise），including Hongbinlou，which specializes in Muslim cuisine，Emei Restaurant，which serves Sichuan dishes，and HuguosiSnacks，which provides various Beijing-flavor delicacies，began to join e-commerce，offering easy methods for diners toorder their signature dishes such as rolling donkey（a snackmade from bean flour），pea cakes，and fermented drinkmade from ground beans.“Today，such venerable restaurants are tasting the fruitsof offering such takeout，”remarks Liu Jian，head of theMarketing Department of Ju De Hua Tian.“We have seen abump of 700，000 yuan a month thanks to the takeoutbusiness，”he adds.That case is not isolated.According to a survey by AnalysysInternational，in December 2015，online takeout totaled 7.09billion yuan，10 percent growth over the previous month.Aside from O2O takeout，internet+catering has placedmore attention on clients individual demands.People havebecome more“picky”as their living standards improve：Theywant to eat fresh，safe，good-tasting food，giving rise to“private kitchens.”Xiao Shu uses quite a few of apps for“private kitchens”such as Huijiachifan（Go Home to Eat）and Chijidun（HavingSeveral Meals，or HSM），which are O2O catering platformsbased on geographical location.When a user loads HSM，photos are displayed of specialtydishes from online“private kitchens”within 3.5 kilometers，and each photo includes a portrait of the chef，which links torelevant information about him or her.One can enjoy doorstepdelivery after placing an order.“Over the five years since operations began，the averagedaily rate has been 70 to 80 percent，drawing mostly whitecollar workers，pregnant women，and shut-ins，”explains HuZhong，founder of HSM.Contrasting HSM，which places emphasis on formal meals，Mishi（Finding Food）specializes in desserts，bakeries，home-brews，and dried food.Today，Mishi covers more than300 cities across the country，with 15，000 registered privatekitchens and over 400，000 daily users.“The shari