CGTN's ZHENG CHUNYING checked out one restaurant to find out how it's coping with the ban on in-person dining in restaurants.

With the ban on dine-in services, Meizhou Dong Po, a Sichuan cuisine restaurant has adapted its services during the May Day holiday. Customers can order online for delivery, or pick up the food at the restaurant, as long as they present a green health code and negative results from a nucleic acid test within 48 hours.

CHEN AIHONG Manager, Meizhou Dong Po "Sales on the third-party platform saw a big rise. We receive approximately 500 orders from delivery platforms a day."

Delivery platforms such as Meituan and Eleme have prepared for an expected increase in activity during the dine-in ban across Beijing.

Both platforms have shortened the approval process to less than an hour for new restaurants to join the sites and launch their takeaway services.

However, the demographic of the apps' active users is limited. Ai Hong says relying solely on the third-party platform isn't enough for them to survive. To reach out to as many customers as possible, the restaurant developed their own mini-program on WeChat for easier and faster ordering. They've also promoted their menus to the communities nearby.

Once the orders are ready, they're delivered to customers.

CHEN AIHONG Manager, Meizhou Dong Po "All of our staff take nucleic acid tests every day, present negative results, the green health kit code, and other hygiene measures. We're trying our best to provide satisfactory service to our customers and minimize the impact of the outbreak on our restaurant."

ZHENG CHUNYING Beijing "In addition to expanding take-out business, they also launched semi-finished dishes like these which includes over many home-cooked cuisines, dim sums or even soups. and all the customer has to do is to throw the ingredients into the frying pan or just heat it in the oven, then in a few minutes, your dish will be ready to serve."

Despite these strategies, the manager says the outbreak has reduced their revenues. But they know the dine-in ban is with good reason.

CHEN AIHONG Manager, Meizhou Dong Po "The revenues now could just reach nearly forty percent compared to before the ban. But we totally understand the government. We think it's a necessary sacrifice to contain the virus."

The dine-in ban is expected to last until May 5, no word yet on whether this could be extended. The ban is on top of other recently imposed restrictions to enforce social distancing and minimize virus transmission.

Like millions of residents, Aihong hopes that these measures succeed in curbing this latest outbreak so that Beijing can once again enjoy the hustle and bustle of in-person dining as soon as possible. ZCY, CGTN, BJ.