A NUCLEAR emergency at the Fukushima power plant in Japan has dealt a severe blow to the Japanese catering business in Shenzhen with fewer local residents dining at Japanese restaurants, Chinese-language media reported yesterday.
The number of diners at our restaurant dropped significantly recently down by more than half, said a manger who gave his family name Liu at the Wuhe Japanese Cuisine Restaurant.
Many people have now become cautious about eating at Japanese restaurants after food tainted with radiation was reported in Japan over the weekend despite repeated guarantees from operators of Japanese restaurants that the seafood was imported from other countries and was safe to eat.
Honestly, it is hard to import food from Japan after the earthquake because the food supply in Japan has decreased, said Liu. And we don t dare to buy seafood from Japan either because we have already lost a large number of patrons.
According to Southern Metropolis Daily, many Japanese restaurants in Shenzhen claimed they were now turning to countries such as Australia and Canada for supplies.
The salmon we serve is imported from Scotland and Norway, while other seafood such as crayfish is from Australia, said the general manager of the Nakamori Akina Japanese Cuisine identified only as Liang.
The quality of the new imports was equally as good as Japanese imports, but were more expensive because of the short supply.
We can t raise the prices on our menu despite a hike in costs because we can t afford to lose our remaining clients, Liang said.
Many small eateries serving Japanese cuisine would be forced to close with fewer patrons and higher costs, Liu said. However, Chen Shaohua, secretary general of the city catering business association, was more optimistic.
There are no more than 100 Japanese restaurants in the city, accounting for only a small percentage, Chen said, without elaborating. Compared to neighboring Hong Kong where there are more than 600 Japanese restaurants employing more than 7,000 people, the blow to catering in Shenzhen is less severe.
Hong Kong media reported that about 25 percent of Japanese restaurants in the SAR would close in the next two months. Figures from the Hong Kong catering business association showed that leases for more than 3,000 restaurants would expire in June. It s likely that many will close in the face of higher rent, food costs and minimum pay increases, said Yuen Fuk-wo, chairman of the Hong Kong catering business association. (SD News)
