Consumers in China are dining at nicer restaurants — even if it costs $500 a person

cnbc.com:

BEIJING — A new restaurant scene is growing more popular across China: fine dining.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, a brand called Lu Style opened four new restaurants in the last three years in Beijing and Shanghai.

At that store, Lu Style said, business brings in 4 million yuan ($579,710) a month. Meals cost about 735 yuan per person, according to reviews on China's Yelp-like Dianping app. Judging from more than 1,500 comments, users were most enthusiastic about the service, taste of the food and «elegant» design.

That's how restaurants are competing in a country whose culture emphasizes good food — and where the global trend of spending on experiences is taking hold.

Since Lu Style launched in 2016, more people no longer focus on just being able to eat, said Tian Junfeng, director of operations. Instead, he expects demand for social spaces will be greater.

The brand has seven restaurants — including a soft open this year in collaboration with a Shanghai art gallery. Lu Style's cuisine comes from the province of Shandong, including many of the ingredients themselves. The restaurants offer seasonal menus and meticulous design — one outlet in Beijing claims the peony bush they transplanted to an outdoor seating area is 880 years old.

Tian said Lu Style will be focused on improving customer service in the coming months. To do so, it contracted an etiquette instructor to spend two days at each store every month, he added.

A similar focus on customer service set hotpot chain Haidilao apart when it opened its first Beijing outlet nearly 20 years ago.

But while its growth in China has slowed, other restaurants are coming in with a similar experience-centered strategy.

By 2018, Dianping owner Meituan started to track and rank