No brick and mortar stores will ban takeout？ Food and Drug Administration head responds
core reading
Central kitchen mode: brick and mortar stores do not necessarily have dining places, the key is to ensure food safety
● Home kitchen sharing model: without brick and mortar stores, without licenses, you can refer to the management measures for small workshops and small vendors
● Takeaway platform: If there is a problem with takeaway, if the platform cannot provide the real information of the online merchants, the platform will provide compensation.
"No brick and mortar stores will prohibit takeout?" Recently, after the State Food and Drug Administration issued the "Internet Catering Service Supervision and Administration Measures (exposure draft) ", the takeout circle was swiped by such news headlines.
In the new regulations, "those who use the Internet to provide catering services should have a physical store and obtain a food business license in accordance with the law", which has attracted the most attention. Only production space, no dining space, is there a brick and mortar store? Home cooking and other sharing models do not have brick and mortar stores at all, can they still do takeaway? Under the new regulations, is the third-party takeaway platform model also facing challenges? In response to these questions, the relevant person in charge of the Food and Drug Administration responded to the reporter’s questions.
Online catering requires a physical store?
"Having a brick and mortar store indicates that it has food capacity, and having a license indicates that it has legal qualifications. If a food safety problem occurs, consumers can find the responsible subject under supervision, which is the minimum system design." Liu Junhai, director of the Institute of Commercial Law of Renmin University of China, introduced that some takeaway brands currently use the central kitchen model. The central kitchen model can implement unified raw material procurement and processing, streamline complex primary processing operations, simplify operation positions, and specialize processes, which is conducive to improving the standardization and industrialization of the catering industry.
"17 Rice" is a takeaway brand representative born on the Internet. It adopts a central kitchen model and does not have dine-in food. The reporter visited the "17 Rice" store at No. 725 Jinsong 7th District in Beijing and saw its plaque saying "17 Rice Ecological Kitchen". The door of the store is facing the pickup port. When the reporter asked if he could order food on the spot, the clerk replied: "You don’t accept on-site orders. You order with your mobile phone, and there are discounts."
At present, there are two main types of central kitchen models on the market:
"17 Rice" and "Stupid Bear Rice" are similar to joining or cooperating. A restaurant owner who has worked with the "Stupid Bear Rice" brand told reporters: "We signed an agreement with’Stupid Bear Rice ‘, they provide the production standard of the central kitchen, using the license of our restaurant, we are only responsible for processing, and pay every month." The reporter saw that the license announced by "17 Rice" Jinsong store is "Beijing Xinchunyuan Halal Sauce Meat Factory".
Shanghai’s "Hema Takeaway" and others are directly operated, and the takeaway brand controls the whole process from ingredients, processing to distribution. Last year, "Hema Takeaway" obtained its own "Food Business License" in Shanghai, and made it clear that its catering service business scope is in the Internet field. Such central kitchens have a clearer responsibility for food safety.
Many consumers think that a brick and mortar store means that they can eat in the store. Is there a physical store for takeaway in the central kitchen model?
The relevant person in charge of the Food and Drug Administration responded: The requirements for places in the Food Safety Law are mainly based on the purpose of ensuring food safety, and do not limit whether there should be places for consumers to eat. The "Measures" only further refine the licensing conditions, and do not limit whether there should be places for consumers to eat.
Home kitchen takeaway, how to supervise without documents?
Another new model of online catering home kitchen sharing, because the platform merchants are all family kitchens, almost no food business license, no brick and mortar stores, more controversial.
Some netizens raised such questions about the home kitchen sharing model, expressing many people’s concerns about the safety of home kitchen takeaway food: "No business license, no food business license, no hygiene license, who is the one who eats bad?"
After the introduction of the exposure draft, the reporter found that the "Neighborhood Food" and "Yami Kitchen", which had started a business on the track of the home-kitchen sharing model, had gone offline on the client side, and "foraging" no longer provided home-kitchen takeaway services. Only "home to eat" was still holding on.
"We are also paying close attention to the release of the Measures," the person in charge of "Going Home to Eat" told reporters. "The model of’Going Home to Eat ‘is a sharing economy, which is different from the traditional catering business state and does not apply to the existing laws and regulations. I hope the policy can give space for market innovation."
The relevant person in charge of the Food and Drug Administration gave a specific reply on the supervision of the home-kitchen sharing model: If the store on the "go home for dinner" platform meets the conditions stipulated by the "Food Safety Law" and other laws, it can apply for a food business license. If it does not meet the conditions for issuing a food business license, it can be implemented according to the specific management measures for food production and processing small workshops and food vendors formulated by the province, autonomous region and municipality directly under the Central Government where it is located.
"The food safety risks of home cooks are still very large. If there is no business and it is given to relatives and friends, there is no need for the law to intervene, but if it becomes a commercial activity and involves public interests, it should be licensed. The operators themselves also need to control the legal risks. If there is a real food safety problem and life is in danger, the individual will be jointly and severally liable for all debts, and the registered company can enjoy limited liability treatment," Liu Junhai said.
According to the relevant person in charge of "going home to eat", it has continuously strengthened its own supervision in terms of food safety, requiring online kitchen real-name certification, health certificate, and kitchen environment to meet certain standards. And for consumers to insure food safety insurance in insurance companies, the maximum compensation for hospitalization expenses is 2,000 yuan/time.
Food delivery platform, what business responsibilities are clear?
In recent years, the online ordering industry has grown rapidly. According to the statistics of the China Cuisine Association, the national catering income in 2016 was 3.58 trillion yuan, of which the online ordering market exceeded 357.90 billion yuan, accounting for 10%.
The rapid development of online food ordering is mainly due to the rapid growth of third-party platforms for online catering services. However, the rapid development of third-party platforms has also caused many black workshops to mix and bring hidden dangers to food safety.
The relevant person in charge of the Food and Drug Administration introduced that some online third-party platforms do not strictly review online catering service providers, causing some unlicensed operators to operate online, and some online catering service providers to publicize false information, conceal and mislead consumers.
While clarifying the responsibilities of merchants, third-party platforms and regulatory authorities, the exposure draft focuses on the responsibilities of third-party platforms: on-site review of food service providers, real-name registration, review of public food business licenses, signing agreements to clarify food safety responsibilities, and conduct spot checks and monitoring of the business behavior and services of food service providers.
In addition, consumers no longer have to worry about problems with takeout and cannot find compensation from merchants. The "Measures" clearly stipulate that if the third-party platform provider of online transactions cannot provide the real name, address and valid contact information of the online catering service provider, the third-party platform provider of online transactions shall compensate. After the third-party platform provider of online food transactions compensates, it has the right to recover compensation from the online catering service provider.
"The development of food delivery platforms should not return to the barbaric era, where those who are bold and those who are timid are starved to death. The business activities of food delivery, the main body and the trading relationship are real, and they are already subject to legal constraints. This exposure draft further refines the responsibilities of all parties, which once again reflects that the Internet is no bigger than the French Open," Liu Junhai said.