A waiter at the Haidilao hotpot restaurant makes hand-pulled lao mian. Zou Hong / China Daily

BEIJING - China's 100 leading catering businesses last year saw a quicker growth pace in business revenue and robust profit expansion, according to the latest industry report.

Combined business revenues of top restaurant chains rose 7.4 percent year on year in 2016 to 218 billion yuan ($31.7 billion), with the rate 5 percentage points higher than that in 2015, according to data from the China Cuisine Association (CCA).

Combined net profits of these companies, including Haidilao Hot Pot and China Quanjude Group, a Beijing roast duck chain, surged 28.8 percent in 2016 from 2015.

The prosperous cities of Shanghai, Beijing and Chongqing were home to most restaurants of the top restaurant chains, with the business revenues in these three municipalities accounting for 67 percent of the total from the 100 industry leaders last year.

Hot pot, fast food and Chinese dishes remain the most popular choices for dining out for Chinese people, according to the report.

The operating income for the entire Chinese catering industry nationwide reached 919.6 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2017, up 10.8 percent year on year, said Jiang Junxian, head of the CCA.

Jiang predicted the revenue growth rate of Chinese catering sector to maintain a medium-to-high speed of around 10 percent during the country's 13th Five-Year Plan period between 2016 and 2020.