[Photo/IC]

The revenue of Chinese restaurant trade totaled 2.78 trillion yuan ($447.97 billion) in 2014, with a 9.7 percent year-on-year increase, according to the annual report of the Chinese Restaurant Industry released by the China Hotel Association.

Guangdong, Shandong and Jiangsu sit at the top of the table with more than 200 billion yuan in annual revenue in 2014.

Guangdong province registered an 8.3 percent increase year-on-year to 283.66 billion yuan. Beijing, on the other hand, was the only market in the whole country that saw negative growth, coming in at 19th position with 73.1 billion yuan revenue.

Han Ming, chairman of the China Hotel Association, said that the Chinese restaurant market upgraded itself with a steady expansion of public catering while the high-end industry experienced slowdown.

The report also said that nearly 80 percent of restaurants planned to launch new brands this year. It added that 71 percent were looking at strategic investment from overseas. China’s catering sector sees nearly 10 percent growth in 2014.