Consumer Foodservice in Hangzhou

Key findings

Local residents and tourists enjoy traditional Hangzhou cuisines

Time-honoured restaurants offer a variety of traditional and classic cuisines with mild savoury flavours with a hint of sweetness, which are favoured by local and tourists. In addition to these restaurants, there are many traditional stores offering classic noodles and local snacks for local people.

Attractive locations are filled with foodservice outlets and premium restaurants

Hangzhou, as an ancient city, is filled with antique-style foodservice outlets, but renovated restaurants are emerging to capture young middle-class consumers. With the gifted advantage of its geographic location with attractive lake views and natural environment, West Lake is surrounded by garden-style premium restaurants.

Restaurants introduce technological advances into their businesses

As the headquarters of Alibaba Group, Hangzhou is renowned for its rapid development of the internet and “intelligent” technology. Restaurants have appeared offering unmanned, 24-hour service, with no queueing. Facial recognition with 3D scanning of customers to verify payments is continuously introduced in restaurants to attract young consumers.

Strong concern about health accelerates the popularity of tea houses and vegetarian restaurants

Tea houses prevail to satisfy the great demand from tea drinkers in Hangzhou, which is the origin of Longjing tea. The pursuit of green and healthy meals has become a trend in Hangzhou, which leads to the increasing number of vegetarian restaurants located around Hangzhou, as well as premium ones established near Lingyin Temple.