What’s for lunch?Tantalizing answers
Print Edition
IT’S that nagging question that hits most office workers as the morning progresses: what’s for lunch?
Packing a lunch at home is too much trouble. Those same old local noodle bars and salad expresses are boring after so many visits. And we all know that fast food isn’t very healthy.
So the question remains: what’s for lunch?
If healthiness, convenience and choice — and even a sense of adventure — are determining factors, then it’s time to go online. Caterers offering lunch deliveries are on the rise, especially in big cities like Shanghai. The accent is on food and beverages for people willing to pay for quality instead of quantity.
Trendy foods like quinoa, kale and avocado are easily found in these online menus. A large box of quinoa and shrimp salad, at under 50 yuan (US$7.6), is not only tasty but also cheaper than most dine-in restaurants.
Then there’s the “Mason jar salad” that’s gone viral on sites like Pinterest and Instagram in the past two years. It involves layers of salad in the wide-mouthed jars — a colorful, healthy and highly portable meal.
The trend was picked up by the Chinese online startup Sweetie Salad, which began in Beijing and has expanded to Shanghai. Over a dozen salads, each weighing 300-500 grams, are packaged in plastic jars and come with bread on the side. A Thai green papaya and seafood salad is 55 yuan, a classic chicken Caesar costs 35 yuan, and a beef udon salad is 45 yuan.
The company operates on the model of pre-ordering and scheduled delivery for next day. Orders can be placed on Sweetie Salad’s WeChat website or via other third-party apps. Delivery in Shanghai is limited to the Inner Ring Road area and Lujiazui.
Like so many things associated with the Internet, the lunch catering business is awash with new ideas cropping up all the time.
Mint’s, one of the newest downtown lunch caterers in Shanghai, started operation via WeChat in April and is still in a trial period before its formal launch. The debut menu features nine dishes created by Giuseppe Tino, former chief chef at the Favola Italian Restaurant in Shanghai.
Isabelle Zhou, a member of the Mint’s team, said the business is targeting people who want a different dining experience, with the focus on quality and service.
The menu features offerings like octopus and purple sweet potato salad, or tuna tataki and soba noodles.
Orders are taken via WeChat from Sunday to Thursday, between 6am and 9pm, for delivery on the next working day. The delivery fee is 6 yuan. The service, now available within the area south of Yan’an Road and west of Chengdu Road, will be expanded to all areas in the Inner Ring Road when full operations commence.
Zhou said Mint’s is also environmentally friendly.
“Food wastage in traditional restaurant kitchens is about 6-8 percent of sales revenue,” she said. “Our trial period shows that we can reduce wastage to 0.5 percent.”
Dishes are prepared in Mint’s kitchen 30 minutes before the agreed delivery time.
With only a kitchen as site overhead, Mint avoids the high rents that can consume up to 40 percent of the revenue of dine-in restaurants. The savings go into quality ingredients and improved delivery services, Zhou said.
Alongside every dish on the menu is a description of the farms where fresh ingredients are sourced. That assures customers that the food they are eating is safe and unpolluted. Zhou said the company will also be introducing inspection services by Swiss-based SGS to ensure the best quality control from farm to plate.
Food security is a big issue in the online catering realm, amid reports of unlicensed delivery companies sourcing food from unhygienic kitchens and passing it off as meals from reputable restaurants.
“All personnel working in our kitchen are required by regulations to possess valid health certificates,” Zhou said.
The menus of online lunch caterers are venturing into the daring realm, introducing entirely new food to customers.
XianJuice is a health food restaurant in Beijing that operates both an actual store and an online platform. The star item on the menu is roasted Dendrobium candidum.
It’s a mouthful in Latin and now on Chinese palates. Dendrobium candidum is a member of the orchid genus and has been used in traditional Chinese medicines since the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD). It’s rarely found fresh in the market, much less consumed as food.
XianJuice is adding fresh buds of the plant to their juices, yogurts and even salads as a way to enhance use of traditional medicines. The plant is said to be a digestive aid.
“The first challenge we faced was how to visualize the Dendrobium candidum buds for customers,” said Annie Jiao, chief operating officer of XianJuice. “We also needed to educate the market about its properties.”
Indeed, it’s difficult to introduce unknown foods to a public wary about safety standards.
“In big cities, there is growing demand for light and healthy foods, and people are willing to try and accept new things,” Jiao said. “But they want the background story to the foods they eat.”
Jiao and her colleagues have come up with a vivid storyline to explain the history and use of Dendrobium candidum. Because the fresh buds are scarce, beverages using them cost more. A 360ml bottle of Dendrobium candidum juice made with 20 grams of the fresh herb costs 58 yuan.
The Japanese okra salad with soba noodles and Dendrobium candidum is 38 yuan.XianJuice is set to open a second store in Beijing and third one in the city of Liuzhou in Guangxi Province. Jiao said sales so far are pretty evenly divided between online and offline services.
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