China is tightening control over “ghost kitchens” operating via major food delivery platforms.
According to a BBC report, apps must verify restaurants’ licences and physical addresses as of this week.
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Meanwhile, merchants are required to ensure their online listings match their actual premises and to indicate whether they offer dine‑in services.
This comes after the authorities found that the ghost kitchens, which don’t exist but appear on apps, channel the customer orders to third‑party operators. This subsequently allows merchants to reduce prices.
Authorities have detected thousands of such operators nationwide, triggering food safety concerns.
The crackdown stems from a complaint in Beijing last year over a cake with “inedible flowers” ordered online.
Officials found the cake brand had listed nearly 380 outlets on major platforms but had no physical stores and allegedly used fake business licences.
Investigators later discovered that orders were routed through an order‑transfer platform and then outsourced to vendors offering the lowest bids.
State news agency Xinhua reported regulators tracked 3.6 million cake orders across two such platforms and identified 67,000 “ghost shops” on seven delivery apps, which together “formed an illegal supply chain through mutual collusion”.
Delivery platforms were found to be involved in the arrangements.
In April, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) fined seven e‑commerce companies, including JD.com, Meituan and Pinduoduo, a total of 3.6bn yuan ($530m), largely over deliveries from “ghost kitchens”.
The online food delivery industry in China is very competitive. A price war among delivery apps last year drew a warning from the government.
