中国·福州——热爱城市从热爱美食开始

2024 Black Pearl Restaurant Guide Food Pioneer Conference Held in Fuzhou

Fuzhou’s catering industry is exploringnew ways to break new ground

On September 25, the 2024 Black Pearl Restaurant Guide Food Pioneer Conference was held in Fuzhou with the theme of “Breaking New Ground.” Over the course of two days, hundreds of domestic and foreign chefs, intangible cultural heritage inheritors, and innovative representatives from Black Pearl restaurants gathered in Fuzhou, offering a feast of ideas covering culinary skills, business operations, and culinary culture.

The conference was hosted by Meituan, and supported bythe Fuzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Fuzhou Daily, and Fuzhou Juchunyuan Group. At theevent, reporters not only heard insightful experiences shared by outstanding practitioners from across the country, but also witnessed Fuzhou’s efforts to accelerate its buildinginto aCity of Gastronomy, using Fujian cuisine as a medium.

Wei Wei, Vice President of Meituan and General Manager of Meituan’s In-store Catering Business Division, shared insights on industry development trends. (Photo by Reporter Chen Nuan)

What makes Fuzhou capable of continuously hosting various food events?

This marks the third time Fuzhou has captured the attention of renowned restaurant rating systems, following the inclusion of Fuzhou restaurants in the “2024 Black Pearl Restaurant Guide” in January and the announcement by Michelin in July about its restaurant selections starting with Fuzhou. The sub-forum topics of the conference included “Long-term Management,” “Back to Ingredients and Flavors,” “Scientific Approach to Chinese Cuisine,” and “New Growth Curve.”

What makes Fuzhou capable of earning the favor of the food industry multiple times in just one year? At the conference, the reporter found the strength supporting Fuzhou’s catering development.

“Fuzhou has not only preserved traditional cooking techniques in its culinary culture but also continuously made innovations, introducing many impressive dishes,” Tang Yan, head of the Black Pearl Restaurant Guide, told the reporter. She explained that the choice of Fuzhou as the host city for this conference was no coincidence.“The collaboration between Black Pearl and Fuzhou’s culinary scene is a tribute to and a continuation of Fuzhou’s culinary heritage. Through this partnership, we hope to further promote Fujian cuisineculture, enhance the influence of Fuzhou’s catering, and allow more people to experience the unique culinary charm of this city.”

Fuzhou is driving the rapid development of itscatering industryby focusing on its bidfor “City of Gastronomy,” sparking new vitality in the culinary sector.

According to officials from the Fuzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, in the first half of 2024, Fuzhou’s catering revenue reached 26.58 billion yuan, marking a year-on-year growth of over 13.2%. The city now has 251 high-end fine dining restaurants, an increase of 33 compared to 2023.Meanwhile, Fuzhou has established the first Fujian Cuisine Culture Museumin China, dedicated to showcasing Fujian cuisine. Ithas also established12 municipal-level food experience demonstration streets, and guided 76 catering enterprises to obtain the title of provincial “FujianCuisine Restaurant,” and 8 restaurants to win the honor of “China Time-Honored Brands.” Additionally, ithas nurtured a group of well-knownrestaurantbrands such as Juchunyuan, hosted the FujianFood Carnival annually, and issued special cateringconsumption vouchers to continuously boost the Fujian cuisine market.

Today, with its rich historical heritage, Fujian cuisine has become an integral part of Mindu culture. It has gradually evolved into a culinary symbol of Fuzhou, embodying the city’s cultural essence and driving the high-quality development of its catering industry.

Amid intense competition in the catering industry, whatmeasures should businesses takefor future growth?

Currently, the catering industry is highly competitive. “Catering has always been a resilient and ever-evolving sector,” said Wei Wei, Vice President of Meituan and General Manager of Meituan’s In-store Catering Business Division. We are now in an era of in-depth development for quality dining. It is essential to break away from traditional thinking and deeply understand consumer needs.To adapt to new trends in the catering industry, many qualitycatering businesses are not only enhancing their services to meet mainstream dining needs but also diversifying their transformations, aimingto cover more consumption scenarios and expand into multiple brands, categories, and price segments.

According to Zhou Xiaoyan, the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Huaiyang cuisine, blindly cutting jobs, reducing salaries, and engaging in price wars are not the correct path for the healthy and long-term development of catering businesses. He pointed out that currently,catering businessesneed to face two main contradictions: the imbalance between supply and demand caused by the continuous expansion of dining establishments, and the more rational demands of consumers calling for a return to the essence of dining.

To address this, Zhou Xiaoyan suggested that catering businessesshould clearly definetheirpositioning and shift theirbusiness models.They should continue to innovate while focusing on theirowncharacteristics, enhance the product cost-performance ratio and strengthen theircompetitiveness by usingquality ingredients, optimizingthe dish structure, and improvingstaff efficiency.

The upgrade of traditional flavors, the rise of immersive experiences, and the creation of diverse new brand stores… As outstanding catering businesses shared their experiencesat the conference, the new trends in catering development became increasingly evident.

What efforts should Fuzhou make to expand the reach and influence of Fujian cuisine?

How to promote the better development of Fujian cuisine has become a topic of great interest for many industry professionals.

“The Food Pioneer Conference is held to help usbroaden our horizons, and develop effective strategies to upgrade our restaurants, based on the experiences and techniques shared at the conference, and according to our own situation.”Tang Yan said, to better develop Fujian cuisine, on one hand, we need to focus on preservation, deeply exploring and maintaining the traditional techniques and classic flavors of Fujian cuisine, ensuring that this valuable culinary culture is passed down through generations. On the other hand, we must embrace innovation, continually integrating modern cooking techniques and new ingredient combinations, and creating more innovative dishes that meet contemporary tastes and health needs.

“Excellent catering brands have the potential to drive the development of local cuisines.”For the many similarities between Fujian cuisine and Huaiyang cuisine, Zhou Xiaoyan also shared her thoughts. “Bidding for ‘City of Gastronomy’ is not just about restaurants; it involves every link of the entire industry chain from farm to table. In addition to the efforts of the restaurants themselves, italsorequires support from multiple sectors, including relevant policies from local governments, a multi-level talent cultivation system in the industry, and various food exchange activities.”

“Fuzhou has a unique geography and a wealth of resources, which have helped foster a Fujian cuisine that is both diverse and exquisite.”According to Chen Li, a consultant for A Bite of Chinaand a professor at Zhejiang University, to achieve further development of Fujian cuisine, it is essential to enhance itsculinary techniques and deepen its cultural essence. “The goal of developing Fujian cuisine and bidding for City of Gastronomy is not just to gain market recognition, but also to share a sense of happiness with diners through the art of cooking.”

“Through mutual efforts, we hope to revitalize Fujian cuisine and establish its place on the global culinary stage, drawing more food enthusiasts to taste and appreciate it,” said Tang Yan. (Fuzhou Daily Reporter:Wu Huazhen)