Breakfast pick-ups gaining ground

It is 8 am. One metro station away from the Shanghai Gopher Center, commuter Chen Jieyun took out her cellphone, opened an app and ordered her breakfast－an omelet with chicken.

When Chen got off the metro and went through the underground passage connecting the station and her office building, she stopped at a wall of small storage boxes.

Chen flashed her phone at a QR code scanner and one of the boxes opened. Chen reached in and grabbed her omelet in a take-out bag, and off she went. Chen had stopped for less than a minute.

"There aren't breakfast stands around the office building," said Chen, an office worker of a medical company in the Gopher Center. "I found this pick-and-go service very convenient for me."

The new self-service breakfast boxes, launched by Alibaba's self-operated grocery retail chain Freshippo in July, have seen brisk business during rush hours in the morning.

Li Fei, project manager of the service at Freshippo, said the company will open more stores in Shanghai, located on the last leg of the commute route for office workers who take the metro to work and have no time to buy breakfast elsewhere.

Freshippo has participated in a new breakfast project initiated by the Shanghai government, which aims to improve the city's breakfast service network with innovative models.

Zhou Lan, deputy director of the municipal commission of commerce, said: "In the past, we focused on the availability of breakfast service, and now more on quality. We want to let people have more convenient and healthier choices."

As per a guideline issued by the municipal government, the new project will promote breakfast service in convenience stores, retailers and on internet platforms. It will encourage companies to come up with new products with balanced nutrition and promote the use of eco-friendly packaging materials.

Shanghai was listed by the Ministry of Commerce as a pilot city for a National Breakfast Demonstration Project in 2011. Since then, Shanghai has built 24 industrialized and standardized central kitchens, supplying food for 7,800 stores selling breakfast and accounting for more than 50 percent of the city's breakfast supply.

As one of the companies participating in building central kitchens, Lao Sheng Chang Dumpling has opened take-out windows at its own restaurants during breakfast hours since 2018.

"The takeout service makes it more convenient for office workers to buy breakfast and it takes less time," said Shanghai citizen Ding Wuyu, who normally buys two steamed buns and a cup of soybean milk for breakfast at the restaurant.

Yu Weiming, chairman of Lao Sheng Chang Dumpling, told Jiefang Daily the company will expand the production line to make 600,000 steamed stuffed buns a day. The company also plans to add Western-style breakfast like sandwiches to meet the tastes of young people, Yu said.

More companies have joined in the breakfast project through cooperation with food delivery platforms. Ego, a convenience store chain jointly owned by Bailian Group and Alibaba, has opened online delivery services since its establishment in March 2019. Operating between 7 am and midnight usually near office buildings, Ego aims to offer white-collar employees a convenient access for breakfast, lunch and dinner, according to Ego's management.

Gu Yuhan contributed to this story.