Mizanur Rahman waited for the remaining seats in a Tamarind Restaurant in Beijing's Chaoyang district to fill up.

It was lunchtime on a Wednesday in December and the restaurant was almost three quarters full.

"Business is not bad," said Rahman, the Tamarind's outlet manager.

Restaurant managers in China such as Rahman are unsure just how much the global economic slowdown may hurt them. They hear the downturn will force diners to cut back spending. But they also hear the crisis may hit the dining industry much more softly than other areas of the economy.

Over 85 percent of urban professionals say the financial crisis has little influence on their eating-out budget, according to a recent survey of 7,753 white-collar workers in major Chinese cities by dianping.com, China's largest restaurant information website.

China's hotel and dining industry saw 24 percent year-on-year growth in the first half of 2008 and China's dining-out expenditures per person reached 1,158 yuan in 2008, a 23.9 percent increase from 2007, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

"China's hotel and catering industry will continue to grow," said Jiang Zengwei, vice-minister of commerce at the 30th anniversary celebration of the reform and opening up of China's hotel and catering industry on Dec 10.

"The catering industry will receive top priority in our efforts to spur domestic demand," he said.

The Chinese restaurant industry could be a darling for many venture capital investors downsizing in other industries because of the financial crisis.

China's domestic venture capital investment volume shrank 63 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2008, according to the 21 Century Business Herald.

But the restaurant industry continues to attract venture capital. The Xinjiang Best- Food Restaurant Co Ltd, an Urumqi-based fast-food chain, got a 1 billion yuan injection from the Shenzhen Capital Group Co Ltd, a major venture capital investor, in September.

The company plans to build 5,000 chain outlets throughout the country in five or six years, with a total sales volume reaching 50 billion yuan, said Wang Junling, Best-Food's chairman.

Actis, a London-based private equity investor, spent $50 million to take a majority stake in Xiabu Xiabu Catering Management Co Ltd, a popular Beijing-based hot pot chain.

"I'm confident this business will achieve even faster growth despite the current downturn," said Lim Meng Ann, head of Actis for China.

The investment will help Xiabu increase its outlets from the current 53 to 300 in five years, said He Guangqi, Xiabu's founder and CEO.

Investors seeking partnerships with the Chongqing Hot Pot Association have apparently increased since September, said He Yongzhi, the association's chairman

In Shanhai, sales are still increasing at most restaurants but the speed they are increasing at is slowing, likely a result of the depressing stock market and global financial crisis, said Xia Xiangqing, marketing director of the Shanghai Catering Industry Association.

(China Daily January 5, 2009)