This year, the Kitchen Gods' Festival (December 23) falls on a Wednesday, making it impossible for Ms. Yen Chi, a resident of Cau Giay (Hanoi), to prepare the offerings herself due to her busy work schedule. To ensure that she has a proper offering tray without affecting her work schedule, she decided to use the food ordering service.
“At the end of the year, I am busy with work, I don’t have much time to prepare the offerings but still want the ancestral ritual to be thoughtful. I decided to order the offerings from stores to save time while still ensuring the offerings are complete and delicious,” Chi shared.
To meet the increasing demand, many catering establishments have developed a service of pre-ordering offerings and delivering them to customers' homes, helping customers save time and effort during holidays and Tet.
Sharing with Lao Dong Newspaper reporter, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang Nga - owner of a vegetarian restaurant in Doi Can (Ba Dinh, Hanoi) said: "On holidays like Ong Cong Ong Tao, the number of orders will increase 2-3 times compared to normal days and my kitchen is often overloaded. Although this year compared to last year, the number of orders has decreased a bit, but on average there are still nearly 100 orders for dishes per day. In particular, in recent years, the trend of people is to offer vegetarian dishes, so my house has more and more customers ordering dishes."
According to Ms. Nga, during the days leading up to Tet, especially on holidays like Ong Cong Ong Tao, most of the staff will work at full capacity and divide into 2-3 shifts, because they have to work through the night. The first shift is from 3am to about 1-2pm, the second shift is from 2pm until evening and one shift breaks at midnight. Sometimes Ms. Nga's kitchen has to refuse orders because of overload.
Surveying the Hanoi market, the price of the offerings to the Kitchen Gods this year ranges from 900,000 to 2 million VND/tray, with a variety of dishes from appetizers to main dishes and desserts. The offering tray priced at 1.2 million VND with typical dishes such as salads, spring rolls, braised dishes, stir-fried dishes, fried dishes, fried rice, soup and sticky rice... is the most ordered by customers. In addition, restaurants also provide decoration services upon request to make the offerings more solemn and meaningful.
Besides establishments specializing in preparing feasts like Ms. Nga's shop, traders at Nghia Tan market (Cau Giay, Hanoi) also said that this is the peak time for customers to buy offerings, many stalls selling sticky rice, boiled chicken, sweet soup, pork rolls... have had to prepare many times more goods than usual, especially traditional dishes.
Ms. Hoai, the owner of a stall at Nghia Tan market (Cau Giay, Hanoi) shared: “My shop is open throughout Tet, selling from early morning until late at night. I even provide home delivery service to serve the different needs of customers.”
During peak times, establishments that prepare dishes for the Kitchen Gods’ Festival also face a series of difficulties. Prices of raw materials such as chicken, carp, sticky rice and vegetables increase sharply, causing production costs to rise, while market demand continues to increase.
In addition, time pressure also makes establishments "restless". Many customers request delivery on time to make it in time for worship, forcing establishments to work at high speed and ensure accuracy in the delivery process.
