This site tells you which apps replace the ones you use at home, and food delivery gets one line in that table: Meituan or Ele.me, cheap and everywhere, needs a Chinese address. All true, and it is a thin answer for a service that a Chinese city runs on.
It is also out of date in one specific way, because the rulebook behind it was replaced two months ago.
The rules changed in June 2026#
The instrument that governed online catering from 2018 onwards — CFDA Order No. 36 of 6 November 2017, as amended in 2020 — was abrogated. In its place, State Administration for Market Regulation Order No. 123, the Provisions on the Supervision and Administration of Online Catering Service Operators Implementing Their Principal Responsibility for Food Safety, promulgated on 27 January 2026 and in force since 1 June 2026.
A companion instrument, Order No. 124, covers online sellers of food rather than caterers; it is named here and not summarised, because this page has not read it.
Anything written in English about Chinese food delivery regulation before this summer describes the old order.
What the listing has to show you#
This is the part a visitor can actually use, and it answers the question everyone has about a kitchen they cannot see.
Article 11 requires the platform to insist on three things from every caterer on it. The shop's online name must match the sign on its physical shopfront. The caterer must continuously display, in a prominent position on its main page, its business credentials, its physical shopfront and its actual operating address — or clearly marked links to them. And then the test that gives the rule teeth: the displayed shopfront must correspond to reality, and the actual operating address must match the premises named on the licence.
So the photograph of the shopfront in the app is not marketing. It is a required representation that has to be true, and the address beside it has to be the one on the licence.
The duty falls on the platform, and the platform is what gets fined — an order to correct within a time limit, and for refusal or serious cases a fine of ¥10,000 to ¥100,000.
Article 22 underwrites all of it: a caterer on a platform must have a real physical shop and hold a food business licence. There is no lawful delivery-only kitchen operating on nothing.
This is the same credential you would read on a wall, moved onto a screen — the hygiene licence and the food business licence are physical documents in a shop you walk into, and for a delivery kitchen the regulation puts the equivalent in front of you before you order.
The registration underneath those permits makes the same journey: an e-commerce seller must keep its business licence, or a link to it, published on its home page exactly as a shop must hang it by the door.
The seal on the bag#
Article 27 requires that catering food be packaged and sealed, and that the seal cannot be restored once opened, so that the food cannot be interfered with in transit.
That is what the sticker across the flap of a Chinese delivery bag is. It is a designed one-way seal rather than a branding touch, and a bag that arrives already open is a bag to refuse. Articles 28 to 30 continue in the same direction, covering the cleanliness of the delivery container and of the person carrying it.
What is not there, having looked: no requirement that a delivery listing display the premises' hygiene grade. The cartoon face is an in-person instrument, read on the wall of a room you are standing in, and it does not follow the food out of the door. On a delivery app the credentials and the shopfront are what you get.
Whether you can actually use it#
Honest answer: the regulation is the easy part, and the address is the hard part.
- You need an address the app will accept, entered in Chinese, which is the real barrier rather than the language of the menu.
- A hotel is the usual solution. As a matter of commercial practice, couriers deliver to the desk or the lobby of a hotel rather than the room, and staff will call or message you. Ask at check-in how the hotel handles it before you order.
- Payment runs through the wallets, like everything else — the ordering flow lives inside WeChat and Alipay as well as in the standalone apps.
- Photographs do the work, exactly as they do when you use Dianping to choose a restaurant to walk to. The two tasks use the same skill and the same company's apps.
- Check the shopfront image and the address before ordering. They are there because the rule requires them, so treat a listing without them as the warning it is.
Frequently asked questions#
Can tourists order food delivery in China?#
Usually yes, provided you can give an address the app accepts and pay through a Chinese wallet. The practical constraint is the address rather than the language — most travellers use their hotel and collect from the desk.
What is the sticker on a Chinese delivery bag?#
A one-way seal. Online caterers must package and seal the food so that the seal cannot be restored once opened, which is how you can tell the bag has not been opened in transit. A bag that arrives unsealed is worth refusing.
How do I know a Chinese delivery kitchen is real?#
By what the listing has to show. Since June 2026 the caterer must continuously display its credentials, its physical shopfront and its actual operating address on its main page, the shopfront must match reality, and the address must match the one on its licence.
Do Chinese food delivery listings show a hygiene rating?#
No. The rules require credentials, the shopfront and the address, not the hygiene grade. The graded cartoon face is displayed on the premises and is read in person, so it does not appear with the food.
Which app should I use for food delivery in China?#
Meituan or Ele.me — the two dominant platforms, both usable on a Chinese connection without a VPN. They are also where restaurant reviewing happens, so the app you browse with is the app you order from.
Did China change its food delivery rules?#
Yes. The 2017 measures were abrogated and replaced by market regulator Order No. 123, in force since 1 June 2026, which restates the physical-premises requirement and tightens what a caterer must display on its listing.