Faced with falling consumption in China, nearly 30,000 establishments closed their doors during the first six months of the year.
Published on 09/10/2024 10:16 Updated on 10/10/2024 05:06
Reading time: 3 min Two passers-by in front of a Lanzhou noodle restaurant in Beijing, October 2024. (SEBASTIEN BERRIOT / RADIOFRANCE)
It is a symbol of China which is bearing the brunt of the economic slowdown since Covid: noodle restaurants, very popular with Chinese consumers, are facing an unprecedented crisis. Faced with falling domestic consumption, nearly 30,000 establishments closed their doors during the first six months of the year. For others, who are still open, daily life is often complicated.
It’s lunchtime here in Beijing’s Soho Sanlitun district. Like every lunchtime, dozens of employees come down from the building towers to have their meal. In this rather upscale noodle restaurant, loudspeaker in hand, the manager tries to attract customers with promotions, but the room has great difficulty filling up.
“The dishes offered in the restaurants located at the foot of my office building are expensive, said a passerby. On average between 5 and 7 euros. I notice that restaurants are closing one after the other around our office… There are fewer and fewer of them.” And to add : “Me, I pay attention to spending, because I’m afraid of being unemployed.”
A little further away, another restaurant offers Lanzhou noodles, halal dishes very popular with the Chinese. There, there are a few more people, but the owner doesn’t really have a smile. “I can’t always do promotions and gifts to customers, because it increases my costs. I worry about the risk of closing the restaurant. It’s difficult to maintain the activity. There are very, very few restaurants that do well in this neighborhood“, she slips.
In the kitchen of a Lanzhou noodle restaurant in Beijing, October 2024. (SEBASTIEN BERRIOT / RADIOFRANCE)
Customers are indeed more than cautious, as confirmed by this man in his thirties, a graphic designer by trade. “I used to have lunch and dinner at restaurants, but in the evening now I cook at home. And for my lunches, I make sure that it never exceeds 5 euros. Before, with my colleagues, “We always had lunch together, we shared and it cost several dozen euros. Today, it’s much more limited and I see that some restaurants close just a short time after they open.” he notes in turn.
Same story for this employee, aged 37, who works in the finance sector: “Right now the economy is not good. I am very careful with my wallet. I spend less. I reduce going out with my friends and I prefer to cook at home. Before, I ordered a lot of dishes in the restaurant Today, I limit myself to the minimum, I don’t waste”.
“Before, people ordered without thinking, they didn’t care about the price of meat”
The manager of a restaurant
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“Now people are very careful about prices, they order fewer things. And what’s more, there are fewer customers. Look, it’s noon, and there are a lot of empty seats. Before, it was full at this time. There wasn’t an empty place“, explains the owner of the Lanzhou noodle restaurant.
According to official figures, between January and June, more than a million restaurants closed across China. Nearly 1,346,000 new establishments opened, but this last figure is a very sharp decrease compared to previous years. Most restaurants saw revenue declines between 30 and 50%.
