Cracking the "Two-Systems" Issue Between Online and Offline Takeout | Investigation

(Source: Economic Daily)

Reprinted from: Economic Daily

According to China’s annual report on the catering industry, the size of the foreign takeout market is expected to surpass 1.4 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate of over 10%, accounting for about 24% of the total catering industry revenue, becoming an important growth driver for the industry.

Ordering takeout now is easy, but choosing “trustworthy” or “quality” takeout is not always simple. Some takeout vendors have clean, well-lit storefront photos and tidy kitchens online, but in reality, their back kitchens are cramped spaces piled with clutter and grease; seemingly licensed businesses are actually fake or using shared licenses—“black workshops.” These “ghost takeouts” hidden behind the internet not only trap consumers but also pose food safety risks.

Investigations across multiple regions reveal that from false credentials and deceptive environments to traffic misguidance and food safety loopholes, the chaos of “ghost takeouts” reflects multiple shortcomings in platform review, industry regulation, and daily supervision. How to expose false disguises, safeguard food safety, and promote genuine regulation and order in the takeout industry is an urgent issue to address.

Online “beautification,” offline “car crashes”

At a food court in Shanghai, a fried rice takeout kitchen is littered with food residues, the stove is covered in greasy, blackened water stains, and the entire space is filled with a pungent smell; nearby, a Korean fried chicken shop has a tiny 6-7 square meter kitchen where staff smoke while frying chicken, with long-unchanged cooking oil, raising hygiene concerns.

Such chaos is not an isolated case. In Pingdong City, Gulou District, Fuzhou, a porridge shop has old freezers and messy ingredient boxes piled outside, with packaged dishes on the freezer and delivery riders weaving through; inside, tables are piled with ready-to-serve dishes, and cardboard boxes are scattered on the floor—an environment in chaos. Yet on takeout platforms, this shop displays bright, tidy storefront photos and standardized, well-maintained kitchens, with a full set of “retouched” images that beautify the real operating environment.

One online photo, a different offline reality—this is a common tactic of “ghost takeouts.” Investigations show that some unscrupulous vendors have mastered a mature “masking” technique: forging food business licenses, fabricating actual business addresses, manipulating orders and reviews to create false popularity, using AI technology or online images to synthesize “high-end” store images… They use fake pictures to package themselves, hiding within platforms, making it difficult for consumers to distinguish.

Li Mingtao, chief expert at China International Electronic Commerce Center, states that the chaos of “ghost takeouts” is largely due to loopholes in platform rules and review mechanisms. These low-quality vendors without proper licenses, operating in non-commercial spaces, rely on low prices to compete and gain traffic advantages, with legal costs far below the benefits, creating negative impacts. Their short lifespan, rapid changes in business info, and the difficulty of comprehensive daily checks and monitoring lead to high dynamic supervision costs. Even when caught, they can re-enter under different “masks,” trapping regulators in a cycle of “frequent hits but no end.”

“Gatekeepers” blocking disguises

In the face of increasingly severe “ghost takeout” chaos, traditional manual checks and offline inspections are no longer sufficient. Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a series of new regulations, including the recommended national standards “Basic Requirements for Takeout Platform Service Management” and “Supervision and Management Regulations on Food Safety Responsibilities of Online Catering Operators,” targeting pain points in the industry and closing the loopholes for “ghost takeouts” with clear rules.

“Takeout platforms cannot just collect commissions without responsibility, only focus on traffic without quality, and must genuinely take on the role of ‘gatekeeper’ for food safety. At the same time, they should warn merchants that no face-to-face contact does not mean no integrity, and no on-site presence does not mean no oversight. Food safety is a bottom line,” said Sun Huichuan, director of food safety at the State Administration for Market Regulation. The new regulations specify that online takeout store names must match their physical storefronts; core information such as business licenses, photos of actual storefronts, and real addresses must be prominently displayed on the main page or linked clearly. To address “fake addresses,” the actual business address must match the license details. Also, merchants engaged solely in takeout and not providing dine-in services must display a “No Dine-in” sign prominently, and platforms must show this sign in the merchant list.

Regulatory departments and platforms across regions are acting swiftly, using innovative technologies to make “information disclosure” more effective and transparent. Weng Wenzhe, deputy director of the Public Welfare Inspection Office at the Changning District Procuratorate in Shanghai, states that they have innovatively applied a comprehensive legal supervision model for online takeout, using big data to compare registration info and complaint data across the district, precisely identifying suspicious shops with duplicate addresses or abnormal info, and combining on-site investigations to gather evidence.

Data from Meituan shows that stores with “Bright Kitchen” certification have seen order volume increase by up to 8.6%, and consumer complaints 【Download Black Cat Complaint App】 have decreased by 23%; stores that have started live streaming see a maximum repurchase rate increase of 12%, with an 8% rise in average order value. Meituan provides hardware subsidies, installation costs, and free AI inspection support for participating merchants. Small micro-restaurants like “夫妻店” (family-run shops) and community stores receive full subsidies and traffic prioritization to lower entry barriers.

Li Mingtao notes that many strict requirements in the standards—such as merchants uploading multiple-angle photos of storefronts and kitchens, continuous unedited real-time videos, verifying information with address positioning and AI recognition, and adding delivery personnel address checks—if strictly enforced, can effectively prevent “ghost takeouts” from entering the market.

Building a dense supervision network on streets and alleys

When “ghost takeouts” hide in residential buildings and narrow alleys, the most effective approach is to involve more eyes and expose chaos to sunlight.

Delivery riders, who traverse city corners daily, are among the first to see the true state of kitchens and are closest to potential food safety hazards. Wang Dan, deputy director of the Regulations Department at the State Administration for Market Regulation, states that new regulations encourage delivery personnel to participate in social supervision. If they discover illegal food safety behaviors, they should promptly report to the platform and the market supervision authorities.

In Yangpu District, Shanghai, riders are no longer just delivery personnel but also “mobile sentinels” for food safety. Prosecutor Jiang Ting from Yangpu District Procuratorate explains that through community-based public interest litigation contact points, they can identify dirty environments and unlicensed shops, providing timely and vivid clues for regulation.

Fujian has employed 198 online delivery personnel as social supervisors, establishing standardized training, reporting, and reward systems, turning riders into the first line of defense against “ghost takeouts.” Meanwhile, Fuzhou’s market supervision bureau has innovated an online “e-governance” model, creating a “whistleblower” reward system for riders and platform staff, enabling encrypted reporting and online rewards, and launching a citizen “photo-reporting” feature, allowing consumers to report issues instantly. Clues are precisely forwarded to regulators, making supervision accessible.

“Besides strictly implementing standards, platforms should establish a quality-oriented consumer rule system to fundamentally eliminate the space for low-price, low-quality, or even food safety-hidden takeouts,” Li Mingtao suggests. Further, there should be enhanced credit management for merchants, building digital credit profiles that integrate license compliance, food safety inspections, and complaint data, implementing graded management, focusing on high-risk merchants, reducing their traffic, and establishing a “blacklist” system synchronized with government regulators.

Currently, Fujian has used credit empowerment to guide major platforms to link operator food safety ratings with traffic distribution and marketing resources, forming a replicable positive credit-driven model. A sound joint “circuit breaker” mechanism in Fujian ensures that takeout operators involved in food safety cases or verified food safety issues are barred from online operation until rectification is complete.