Eating self-made Eve dinner at home still a majority choice: Survey

It is a time-honored tradition for Chinese people to eat a family reunion dinner at home during the Spring Festival; the meal is an important way to bid farewell to the past and usher in the new year. As the New Year approaches, where to eat and how to eat the dinner has become a hot topic for Chinese people. The Chinese Cuisine Association conducted an Internet survey about the 2010 family reunion dinner by asking 12,000 consumers in various cities in order to gain a sense of the consumption trends, how the meal is consumed and their attitude on the subject.

Eating self-made Eve dinner at home still a majority choice: Survey

A homemade dinner is the main way that consumers have the New Year's meal

The results of the survey showed that a "homemade family reunion dinner" has always been the norm regardless of whether it’s the 2009 Spring Festival, which was marred by the financial crisis, or the 2010 Spring Festival, which is occurring during a period of economic recovery. Over 75 percent of the respondents said they preferred a "home-made dinner." New Year's is always connected with the feeling of reunion. The sweet and warm feeling that goes along with cooking at home for all family members is often the most beautiful memory in Chinese people's hearts.

Compared with 2009, the rate of people "eating the family reunion dinner at a restaurant" in 2010 increased slightly. It is not only popular in big cities but has also become a trend across the country.

In addition, 4.56 percent of people chose to "buy a pre-made dinner," a number which is significantly higher than in 2009.

Half of the people create a budget of 500-1200 yuan for the family reunion dinner

The survey showed that more than half of the respondents created a budget between 500 and 1,200 yuan (according to 10 people) for 2010 New Year's dinner, other 25 percent of the respondents created a budget of more than 1200 yuan. 23.84 percent of people surveyed are working with a budget below 500 yuan. Because the majority of respondents are from non-capital cities and municipalities, it is clear that 50 yuan per person for the dinner is the norm in second and third-tier cities.

Environment and price are the most important factors when planning the family reunion dinner

The price of the dinner, the brand of the catering company, the dining environment, the location and transportation to and from the venue are all factors to consider when booking a dinner. Of the respondents, 60 percent said they felt the dining environment and the price are the most important factors.

As New Year’s dinners are often in short supply, some restaurants add a large number of tables and many dining places are overcrowded. Some of the restaurants provide dinner at different times and limit the dining time in order to stuff in more people to their restaurant, creating an excessively noisy dining environment for consumers and negatively influencing their happy mood on this holiday. There are also some restaurants that provide poor quality food at high prices and offer dinner packages to artificially raise the minimum-spending limit. This allows the consumers to feel like they are dining expensively but the quality is often not worth what they’ve spent. So consumers are therefore sensitive to price.

For the family reunion dinner, most people prefer time-honored and brand-name restaurants

Time-honored restaurants are favored by consumers for their long history, good reputation and obvious quality features. More than 31.5 percent of respondents choose time-honored restaurants. Brand-name restaurants are also popular with their strict management, high quality food and guaranteed service, so they often have better recognition as being superior to time-honored restaurants, according to 36.75 percent of respondents. In addition, 20.86 percent of the respondents choose regular restaurants for their moderate prices and popular dishes.