Recently two totally unrelated acquaintances mentioned the idea of starting food places in 3rd-tier Chinese cities.  When asked for input, I gave both of them the same advice: make your place nice enough that you could bring a date.

I’m neither a retail expert nor someone who has been on a huge number of dates in China, so please bear with me, and let me know what you think.

Chinese culture places huge pressure on dating.  Parents go to parks early on weekend mornings armed with pictures of their twentysomething children, hoping to play matchmaker.  Lavish weddings, preceded by white-dress photo sessions, have become an enormous industry.

Image Source: Lordofdesign.com

People need places to play.  The word “play” (wanrrrrr in Beijing dialect) has less of an age limit than it does in English, and people over the age of five use it all the time.

Sure, there are options for play.  Malls.  Local restaurants.  KFC and Pizza Hut.  McDonald’s.  Starbucks.  DQ.  Parks.  But parks are nicer in the summer than the winter, and the other options are not terribly romantic.

The romance factor is one reason why Haagen-Daz has done well in China.

Beijing’s Nanluoguxiang is packed every weekend with a combination of young, hip Chinese and foreign visitors staying at the nice hotels and hostel on the lane.  Many of these people come as couples.

Image Credit: CRI

A day trip to Nanluoguxiang, which is on several major bus routes, could include window shopping and Wen Yu Nai Lao (a popular place that makes cheese that is a bit like fluffy, not-so-cold frozen yogurt often topped with red beans) and is well within the budget of China’s Gen Y.

The Chinese like to linger in cafes, chatting.  It is far nicer to linger in a nicely decorated place.

What do you think?  How about you, Enovate?  Do date-worthy places in China do well?  What else would you add?