Chinese catering companies have been turning to online platforms to boost their business during the COVID-19 outbreak, at the same time embracing new opportunities to develop.

A food deliveryman takes food from a restaurant in a shopping center in Dongsheng town, Haidian district, Beijing. (Ren Chao/Xinhua)

Online takeaway services have been making up a significantly larger part of catering companies' revenues, according to a recent study released by the Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Takeaway services contributed to 75 percent and 65 percent of the catering industry's total revenue and profit growth, respectively, the study said.

The study also revealed that takeaway services have created more market opportunities for the catering sector, as they encourage consumers to develop new consumption habits.

According to a survey, 55 percent of respondents said they had spent more money on restaurant food each week because of takeaway services, which have become a new profit growth engine for catering companies.

Internet research firm iiMedia predicts that China's online takeaway market will hit 664.6 billion yuan this year.

Meizhou Dongpo, a Sichuan-style food chain, began selling dozens of self-developed products through online platforms during the epidemic. It also sold finished and semi-finished products to communities via e-commerce platforms and live-streaming shows.

“Catering companies need to realize innovative and online-offline integrated development through technologies,” said Wang Gang, founder and president of the company.

Similarly, the Yoshinoya and Dairy Queen restaurant chains have also actively used the internet to get through the epidemic, including establishing their own takeaway service systems and social marketing channels, and selling food through live-streaming videos.

“The epidemic gave me the resolution to move faster to upgrade the chains,” said Hung Ming Kei, CEO of the chains' parent company Hop Hing Group, a Hong Kong-based investment holding company principally engaged in the operation of quick-service restaurant chains, adding that he interacts with fans and consumers through live-streaming shows.

Recently, a food delivery platform teamed up with catering brands such as Pizza Hut, McDonald's and Yonghe King to invite online celebrity Li Jiaqi to launch a live-streaming show, setting a sales record of more than 10 million units in five minutes.

Experts suggested that food delivery platforms, restaurants, consumers, and regulators should work together to ensure food safety under the "internet plus catering industry" model.