Yakult eagerly took a bite of shredded chicken and lettuce on the dining table in front of him and licked his lips. The black-and-white Collie, named after a Japanese yogurt, was one of 10 dogs who dined with their owner at Kongshan Yunnan Restaurant in Shanghai, China. The dinner was held in the style of a traditional Lunar New Year meal.
Lunar New Year is an occasion for families to reunite, marking the end of a year and welcoming the new year. This year, Lunar New Year begins on January 29, welcoming the new year of At Ty.
In China, where many people choose to keep pets instead of having children, restaurants or online stores have offered dinner events and meals for dogs and cats during the Lunar New Year, including an event held early on January 25 that Yakult participated in.
"Yakult is my soul mate, giving me a lot of emotional support. Since it's time for a family reunion meal, I wanted to have a meal with my good friend, so Yakult can feel the Lunar New Year atmosphere," Reuters quoted Momo Ni, 27, owner of Yakult.
A search for “New Year’s Eve dinner for pets” on Chinese social media site RedNote returns dozens of results, from fresh meals to beautifully packaged gift boxes. Some vendors offer traditional Chinese dishes like “Eight Treasures Duck Rice,” prepared to suit dogs’ tastes.
Gu Jiayu, co-owner of Kongshan Yunnan, said the restaurant decided to give customers the opportunity to celebrate the New Year with their pets. While owners enjoyed dishes such as stewed chicken with mushrooms, their pets enjoyed shredded chicken breast, boiled lettuce and dog treats.
“Nowadays, especially in big cities, many people work very hard and experience a lot of stress. They consider pets as companions and even as their children,” she said.
China's pet care market, which includes food, products such as cat litter and dietary supplements, has grown nearly 40% since 2020, reaching a value of 94.6 billion yuan ($3.1 billion) last year, according to data from Euromonitor.
According to People's Daily, Ms. Li, the owner of a pet restaurant in Wuhan, Hubei Province, central China, said that the restaurant designed a Wuhan-style New Year's Eve meal for pets, with local delicacies such as Mianwo - a type of savory fried dough.
Ms. Li said that the nutritious New Year's Eve meal for pets sold at her restaurant costs 298 yuan ($41.01) per serving, with customers mainly being young women aged 25 to 30.
Currently, the pet meals have only been on sale for a week and have already had 50 orders.
According to People's Daily, many elaborately designed New Year's Eve dinners for pets are selling well on major e-commerce platforms. For example, on Alibaba's Taobao platform, New Year's Eve dinners for pets are often sold in gift boxes, with prices ranging from 20 to 300 yuan (about $41.41).
