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The theme of the times of Chinese food culture and the new business philosophy of China’s catering industry

1. The accumulation of Chinese mass catering and China The historical limitations of the catering industry

China is the earliest country in the history of human civilization with written records of the emergence of "restaurants", and it is also the country where the urban catering industry has been the most developed. This kind of prosperity of urban catering is unique in the history of world culture since the Han and Tang Dynasties and in the long medieval era. This momentum even lasted until the 1930s. In the following nearly half a century, although China's urban catering industry still had the glory of history and culture, it was unable to develop the taste of the civilization of the times and was obviously lagging behind. This backwardness is not only reflected in the market structure and social role of the domestic catering industry, but more importantly, in comparison with the development process of the world's catering industry and its status in the world's largest catering market.

From a historical perspective, the prosperity of China's urban catering industry is traditional and national food culture; but from a social perspective, it is not national food life in the popular sense. Because the catering industry in Chinese history basically did not serve members of the peasant group, which accounted for more than 80 to 90% of the national population. The basic level of social food culture in Chinese history, the "eating layer", was The majority of farmers are the main group. Not only that, even members of the "well-off class" rarely become consumers in the urban catering industry. The members of the above two groups basically have no connection with the urban catering industry. Occasionally, they are exceptions, and they are very consuming. Peasants, as the main group of the Chinese nation, stick to their fields and rarely leave the countryside, and they rarely stay away from the land on which they live. Few of them go to hotels or pubs. Their production is decentralized and independent, and they are closely integrated with the land they cultivate. Their food comes from the land they cultivate and nature. They rely on their own hands to solve stomach problems directly as much as possible. They produce and live. The space is far away from the towns, and the city is a place they rarely visit in their lifetime. They have neither objective conditions nor subjective willingness to "spend money" and "luxury" in restaurants. This is a traditional custom passed down from generation to generation in their families and society, and it is also a traditional psychology that has almost lost its origin.

However, hotels and pubs are precisely the main body of the catering industry in Chinese history. They are generally located in various urban ports or transportation hubs. ) are just temporary food stalls. Therefore, the catering industry in Chinese history was firstly urban, especially in metropolitan and central cities; secondly, it was based on middle-class and above social members as its basic consumers. This kind of catering industry, which is only for urban and high-level consumers, cannot be regarded as for the masses.

The major changes in the structure of the catering industry in Chinese history were probably after the 11th century, especially after the 15th century. With the development of handicraft industry and commerce, Chinese cities, especially some central cities, developed with commerce. The formation and growing strength of the citizen class, which is dominated by workers in various handicrafts, service industries or the "tertiary industry" in history, has resulted in settled citizens, medium- and long-term residents, and various types of people in the middle class and below. Various types of mid- to low-end restaurants that serve the floating population have developed vigorously. In fact, mid-to-low-end restaurants in the sense of corporate structure have existed very early in Chinese history, and there were still a considerable number in Chang'an, the capital of the Han Dynasty, and in the metropolis of the Tang Dynasty. However, the general group of citizens below the middle class have not become important consumers of eating out. Until the end of the 20th century, China's catering industry was basically the traditional model since the 15th century. We say this not only because the Chinese cooking tradition of "manual operation and experience" has not fundamentally changed, but more importantly, the proportion of "ordinary people" among the basic consumer groups is still very small. It is true that with the progress of the times, the development of social production and the process of urbanization (scale and function), today and history can never be the same. However, for a long time after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the sluggish economic development of people's livelihood and the government's low wages and consumption suppression policies have fundamentally restricted the normal development of the social catering industry. The policy of unified purchasing and marketing has been enforced for decades, and the food stamp system was gradually abolished in the early 1980s. For nearly 30 years, business trips for "cadres" and "employees" would have serious consequences for family income balance. The "food subsidy" that people on "official business" received in accordance with government regulations initially amounted to three cents per day, and later gradually increased to a few yuan, which could not make up for the daily expenses they spent in "staff canteens", "guest houses", "workers, peasants and soldiers" or "people's", "Popular" is an ordinary restaurant with low standard consumption. At that time, the entire society was so "incorruptible" at the level of ordinary workers and cadres that there was no such thing as free "entertainment," "welcomes," and "farewells." A different world.

After the reform and opening up in mainland China in the 20th century, from high-star hotels in central cities to ordinary restaurants in ordinary towns, overnight we ushered in an unprecedented business boom opportunity. China's catering market has developed vigorously under fully liberated policies and a fairly relaxed environment. People's dietary life and national food culture, led by large and medium-sized cities, have entered a period of profound change ahead of other sectors of the national economy and other areas of social culture. In the whirlpool of time.

The booming prosperity of China's catering industry for more than 20 years is not only witnessed by the Chinese people, but also attracted worldwide attention. "Promoting" "Chinese cooking" with the surprise of the Qin warriors unearthed and the excitement of the atomic bomb is exactly the same as that of Chinese catering. This kind of prosperity is external and internal. However, it is not difficult for us to see the harsh fact through the culinary or food culture bubble created by the catering industry’s propaganda and articles promoting free diners: China’s catering industry, under the title of the so-called “Culinary Kingdom”, is basically still Operating within the traditional business philosophy, "Chinese cooking" has not jumped out of the structural framework of hundreds or even more than 2,000 years. The fundamental reason is that the structure of the consumer group has not fundamentally changed. For a considerable period of time, the main service objects are still traditional special consumption types such as official entertainment, etiquette, entertainment, and entertainment. A fundamental feature is that all these The main economic support point of consumption type is not the regular salary amount in personal pockets. Therefore, grandeur and luxury naturally become the intentional characteristics of this special type of consumption beyond or above the meaning of human nutrition, hygiene and food. We can learn from the countless cookbook books during this period that promoted exquisite and rare items, the hotels and restaurants boasted luxurious banquets, the publicity of various "eating culture" and "eating art", as well as the large number of criticisms published in the newspapers about luxury, waste, and waste. The big end is known in articles about eating and drinking with public funds. Regarding the characteristics of this era of China's catering industry, Japanese scholars once pointed out very correctly after extensive and in-depth investigation and research: "To understand contemporary Chinese popular diet, we cannot rely on the recipes in restaurants as the main basis." To say that this view is correct is that It comes from the following two considerations: First, restaurants (not porridge shops and snack bars) serve only a very small number of specific consumer groups in the ethnic population; second, the dishes and other foods in restaurants are based on raw materials (main ingredients, side ingredients, seasonings). ), technology, style, and flavor are very different from the daily diet of ordinary families. Therefore, in terms of basic characteristics, it is still a continuation of tradition.

What we have discussed above is only the basic tendency, which is a certain trend shown by the national cultural order thinking. It reflects the degree of civilization of the food lifestyle in contemporary Chinese society and the general rational level of the people's food culture. This food culture order, which has been inherited for tens of thousands of years or even longer, is accumulated from the traditions of national food lifestyle and national food culture. But this does not mean that the Chinese catering industry and national food culture in the past 20 years have been a simple repetition of inherited traditions and customs. Of course this is not the case. The fact is that in an operating state where tradition is maintained and the old order remains unchanged, change and development exist at the same time. However, this change and development has not yet broken through the old model. Therefore, the mass catering industry is growing in an undercurrent form, but it has not yet become mainstream.