"Group take-out" — Phrase of the Week
Meituan rolls out cheaper food delivery service
Our phrase of the week is: "group take-out" 拼好饭 (pīn hǎo fàn)
Context
Cutting costs when dining out has become a defining trend among young people in China’s first-tier cities.
With average spending declining, high-end restaurants in major cities have been closing at an accelerated pace in recent months.
Meanwhile, affordable chain restaurants and drink shops, originally popular in second- and third-tier cities, are now expanding rapidly into tier-one markets with lower-priced options.
When it comes to eating out during work hours, research shows that most workers in first-tier cities normally budget around 30 yuan as an acceptable price for a meal. However, the rising cost of living in these cities is forcing many to tighten their belts even further.
This is why a new kind of take-away service is becoming popular among strapped consumers:
Shopping only on Pinduoduo, drinking only Mixue Bingcheng’s lemon water, taking only fixed-price rides, and ordering only group take-out for meals.
购物只用拼多多，饮料只喝蜜雪冰城柠檬水，打车只坐一口价，吃饭只点拼好饭。
Gòuwù zhǐ yòng Pīnduōduō, yǐnliào zhǐ hē Mìxuě Bīngchéng níngméngshuǐ, dǎchē zhǐ zuò yìkǒujià, chīfàn zhǐ diǎn pīn hǎo fàn.
And with that, we have our Sinica Phrase of the Week!
What it means
"Group take-out" is a combination of three characters: "to do something as a group" (拼 pīn), "good" or “well-done” (好 hǎo); and "meal" (饭 fàn).
This phrase has gained popularity in China in recent months, originating from a service developed by Meituan, the internet food and delivery giant. The service follows a model similar to the e-commerce discount platform Pinduoduo (PDD), enabling customers to purchase meals in groups.
With "group take-out," approved merchants prepare meals in batches, while delivery drivers make multiple stops in a single trip as customers in the same area order the same meal.
While this approach may take slightly longer than individual orders and involves some additional coordination, it offers significant savings—sometimes over 50%. For instance, in central Guangzhou, a roast duck leg and rice meal typically costs 28.8 yuan when ordered individually but drops to just 11.2 yuan with the group take-out option.
The savings can be even more dramatic. Reports indicate that some group take-out meals, including a main dish, drink, and side, are priced as low as 1.9 yuan—far below the standard 10-yuan cost for comparable meals.
Meituan first tested its group take-out service in 2020, focusing on lower-tier markets during the pandemic as consumers shifted from dining out to home-based meals. By April 2023, the company had established a dedicated group take-out division within its food delivery department, targeting first-tier cities like Shanghai and expanding nationwide under its “core local commerce” segment.
This strategy appears to be yielding results.
CICC analysis reveals that in 2023, Meituan processed over 1.16 billion group take-out orders, accounting for around 6% of its total food delivery orders. This share is projected to grow to 8%-9% by 2024-2025.
At this growth rate, and with the continuing decline in average customer spending, group take-out could account for as much as 20% of Meituan's food delivery business in the coming years.
Andrew Methven is the author of RealTime Mandarin, a resource to help you learn contemporary Chinese in context, and stay on top of the latest language trends in China.
Read more about how this story is being discussed in the Chinese media in this week’s RealTime Mandarin:
