Fast food rather than restaurants were favored by Shanghai residents on their first day back at work.

Because of the coronavirus, people are required to avoid eating in groups, which has affected the restaurant business. Most private restaurants stayed closed yesterday while some chain restaurants were providing a take-away service.

At the Cloud Nine shopping mall inHongkou District, over half of its restaurants were open despite the lack of customers. At Sue Hsiao Liu, a chain restaurant famous for its Shanghai snacks, two people were dining at separatetables around noon. At the restaurant entrance, there were packed food boxes for people preferring a take-away.

“We introduced the take-away service this month,” staff member Ye said. “Very few people have chosen to dine in the restaurant in the past two weeks. Before allowing customers in, we check their temperature and provide hand sanitizer.”

Ye said the restaurant encourages customers to scan a QR code on the table to place orders instead of talking to waiters and waitresses. Restaurant staff are also required to avoid unnecessary chat with customers, and to wear masks and gloves when serving dishes.

Nanjing Impressions, another chain restaurant in the mall, was open for the first time since the Spring Festival holiday. The restaurant is usually openthroughout the year, even on national holidays. Manager Wu Xiong saidthe restaurant has limited its choice of dishesdue to supply problems.

“For example, we are temperately not able to offer our signatureboiled salted duck dish. The ducks are usually delivered from Nanjing but transportation isaffected during the virus outbreak.”

Wu said about 12 staff members were working in the restaurant, half of them chefs.

“All of them are employees who stayed back in Shanghai during the holiday. We are not arranging for employees who left for their hometowns for the holiday to return so soon.”

Wu said the restaurant has opened only half of its dining area. “But if customers want to sit farther from each other, we can also arrange. All facilities in the restaurant are sterilized at least three-four times a day.”

Some restaurants have closed their dining areas but kept the kitchens open to handle online take-away orders.

Compared to traditional restaurants, fast-food restaurants and snack booths, including noodle shops, are popular.

At one branch of Burger King, customers were encouraged to place orders from self-service machines or through the appon their phones rather than going to the counters. Some chose to dine in the restaurant while more preferred their food packed to take away. At the pick-up window, an employee would leave packed food on the counter to avoid contact with customers as much as possible.

“The self-service machines are cleaned every two hours in each restaurant,” a Burger King staff surnamed Gusaid. “We clean the tables as soon as customers finish eating.”

“Fast food is simple and takes less time,” said Tao, a diner at aPizzaMarzanobranch. Tao works in an office not far from the restaurant.

“We don’t have a canteen. Some of my colleagues have brought lunch from home,” Tao said. “I chose to come out for a walk. I’ll pack a pizza for two other colleagues when I finish.”