It is nothing unusual for the kitchens of restaurants in China to be walled with glass so diners can watch chefs preparing their food. However, nowadays, this facility is not only available in the restaurants, but also online in real time.
A campaign for overseeing the cooking operations of restaurants online is being promoted through the administration of market regulation in Fuzhou, capital of southern China's Fujian province.
The program with high-tech support, such as, virtual reality and the Internet of Things, was launched to enable potential diners to thoroughly check the hygienic conditions of the kitchens before ordering food online. By watching how those kitchens are run, customers only need to press a button marked "Sunshine Kitchen-Live" installed in the food delivery app known as Ele.me.
Lin Xin, a worker in the downtown Gulou district, said: "There is a lot of news online exposing the unqualified food supply arrangements of local restaurants with delivery services. I suffered loose bowels occasionally [from home- delivered food]".
To better address the problem, a holistically visualized supervision and control system connecting the clients with administrations simply by means of a smart phone was launched.
"Thus, simultaneous supervision is going beyond the single sight of the administration and reaching multiple oversights by ordinary people," said an official from the local market regulation administration who wished to remain anonymous.
According to Workers Daily, from 2016 to 2018, a total of 63.3% of customers in Fuzhou availed themselves of a food delivery service online more than three times a week; among the orders, 65% were for quick meals.
"The restaurants' delivery personnel are extremely scrupulous when their kitchens are under the oversight by the customers around the clock," a local bakery owner said. "However, this is also a good opportunity for us to present our regularized operation from which we can benefit with higher demand."