Catering stocks saw their gains widen during the afternoon session. At the time of writing, GREEN TEA GROUP (06831) rose 5.72% to HK$7.76. HAIDILAO (06862) advanced 4.94% to HK$15.92. DPC DASH (01405) increased by 4.62% to HK$61.2. JIUMAOJIU (09922) was up 2.96% to HK$1.74.

The positive momentum follows data from the National Bureau of Statistics indicating a significant boost for the catering sector during the Spring Festival period. From January to February, total catering retail sales reached 1.0264 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%, showing a continued recovery in growth. Catering revenue from large-scale enterprises amounted to 281.3 billion yuan, up 4.7% year-on-year, demonstrating relatively strong performance.

An earlier research report from Soochow Securities noted that a review of historical performance shows the first quarter often brings positive momentum for catering stock prices. Factors such as market profitability effects, delayed corporate annual meetings and customer engagements into the first quarter of 2026, and the timing of the Spring Festival are expected to benefit first-quarter 2026 results. Coupled with medium to long-term expectations for high dividends, the confluence of these factors is anticipated to lead to marginal improvements in key metrics including average spending per customer, same-store sales, and table turnover rates.