COVID or no COVID, Beijing diners won't be denied their Peking duck

Peking University Resources (Holdings)

18/05/2022 07:30

By Thomas Suen and Ryan Woo
    BEIJING, May 18 (Reuters) - As restaurants in the Chinese
capital drift in the doldrums of a COVID ban on dining in, one
eatery manager and his army of chefs have set up stalls on the
pavement to keep alive some of the old magic and drum up sales
of their big seller, Peking duck. 
    The ban on customers eating in, imposed this month, means 
restaurants have to rely on takeaway to survive.
    For customers of the Ziguangyuan Restaurant, the carving of
the duck and slicing of its succulent crispy skin at the table
was part of the dining experience.
    Manager Zheng Po has set out to save that gastronomic
spectacle, putting up stalls outside his restaurant so his
takeaway customers can watch their duck get carved.
    "Our Peking duck sales have even gone up," Zheng, 35, told
Reuters outside his restaurant as a queue of customers waited.
    "Our sales of the ducks are even better than what they were
before this round of COVID control measures." 
    To meet the new demand for the takeaway ducks, Zheng's chefs
get to work at 6 a.m., two and half hours earlier than when the
restaurant used to open its doors for sit-down diners.
    The chefs roast the birds until they are a shiny, golden
brown, ready for the first takeaway customers who arrive as
early as 8 a.m.
    One customer, who identified herself as just Zhao, said her
priority during the pandemic was getting food on the table but
she appreciated the effort to keep alive some of the old
enjoyment.
    "In normal times ... customers are not only coming to eat
but also want to experience the service too," Zhao said before
headed home with her duck.
    The stakes are high for Zheng, who likened the effort to
help his business to a battle. He declined to disclose his sales
figures.
    Even before the May 1 ban on dining in, Beijing's
hospitality sector had been rocked by COVID. In April, the
city's catering revenue plunged 25.33% from a year earlier,
according to Reuters calculations based on January-April data
from the city's statistics bureau.
    "My biggest wish is that the pandemic can be over as soon as
possible so dining in can resume," said Zheng.

 (Reporting by Thomas Suen and Ryan Woo; additional reporting by
Ellen Zhang; Editing by Robert Birsel)
 ((Ryan.Woo@thomsonreuters.com;))