Qinghai is systematically advancing the Qinghai Family Banquet cultivation project, using a unified public catering brand as a driving force to connect the entire chain of agricultural and livestock production, catering consumption, cultural tourism experiences, and brand export, forging a new industrial path in which distinctive cuisine drives the export of green and organic agricultural and livestock products and helps farmers and herders achieve stable income growth.
On October 21, at the business development special session of the Qinghai Provincial People's Government Information Office's themed press conference series on "Starting the 15th Five-Year Plan," Song Hao, Deputy Director of the Service Trade and Commercial Services Division of the Provincial Department of Commerce, introduced that Qinghai, as the source of the three rivers, possesses highly scarce green and organic agricultural and livestock resources, with outstanding quality ingredients such as beef, mutton, highland barley, and wild plateau mushrooms, alongside a deep heritage of ethnic specialty cuisine.
Previously, the province's catering industry long suffered from the shortcomings of "having products but lacking brands" and "having specialties but lacking a signature identity," with no unified iconic public catering brand. Consumers outside the province had a vague understanding of "Qinghai flavors," and the catering industry's ability to drive the upstream farming and herding industrial chain was very limited, with quality agricultural and livestock products remaining "hidden in the boudoir, unknown to outsiders."
It was precisely based on this reality that Qinghai started from scratch to plan and implement the Qinghai Family Banquet cultivation project. Qinghai has formulated the "Qinghai Family Banquet Brand Building Three-Year Action Plan (2026-2028)," advancing in stages according to a four-in-one system of "brand building, cultural tourism integration, production-marketing linkage, and all-region promotion," striving to cultivate a group of key operating entities by 2028, form the prototype of a standardization system, and turn Qinghai Family Banquet into a golden calling card showcasing Qinghai's image.
At present, the province has released the "Qinghai Family Banquet Service General Guide" group standard, building a six-category cuisine system covering international, traditional, specialty, ethnic, rural leisure, and famous snack collections, completed relevant text copyright registration and is advancing LOGO trademark registration, has launched 100 fusion innovation dishes covering ten major cuisine fusion directions, and simultaneously released standardized cooking guides for 50 classic dishes.
Qinghai's commerce system will build a three-tier demonstration store matrix at the provincial, municipal, and county levels, implementing unified dish standards, unified store service specifications, and unified operational management models, ensuring that consumers everywhere can taste consistent and authentic Qinghai flavors.
In terms of business format integration, Qinghai Family Banquet deeply connects with Qinghai's ramen industry, around-the-lake cycling, and other distinctive cultural tourism and sports resources, promoting the implementation of "Family Banquet + Cultural Tourism," "Family Banquet + Sports," and "Family Banquet + Study Tours" scenarios, creating an integrated "ramen + cycling" consumption station, achieving two-way traffic between catering and cultural tourism.
Currently, 4 specialty dishes and Qinghai ramen have been incorporated into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs catering system, becoming a distinctive vehicle for provincial-ministry coordination and international economic, trade, and cultural exchange.
In the external promotion phase, Qinghai will continue to carry out Qinghai Family Banquet "Five Entries" activities — entering ministries and commissions, central state-owned enterprises, provinces and cities supporting Qinghai, key cities, and scenic areas — relying on platforms such as the Qinghai Investment and Trade Fair, the Tour of Qinghai Lake International Road Cycling Race, and counterpart aid Qinghai exhibition sales to carry out domestic and international promotions. At present, the number of authorized Qinghai Family Banquet enterprises at home and abroad has exceeded 100.
The industrial driving effect has already begun to show. From January to September this year, among the 46 authorized catering enterprises, 23 saw revenue growth of over 5% year-on-year, exceeding the provincial catering industry average by 8.5 percentage points; 22 supporting supply chain enterprises saw sales growth of 10% year-on-year, collectively providing employment and income-generating positions for 4,100 people.
The Qinghai Provincial Department of Commerce will also establish a "from pasture to table" direct procurement and traceability mechanism, promoting long-term stable supply channels between catering stores and agricultural and livestock cooperatives, using terminal consumer demand to feed back into upstream agricultural and livestock production, forming a virtuous cycle of production determined by sales, and continuously broadening channels for stable income growth for farmers and herders.
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