scene of ceremony

Chen Xianjin, deputy director general of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination

The first batch of 14 restaurants and eateries, which will include Starbucks, KFC and Nanxiang steamed buns, signed agreements with the Shanghai Expo Center yesterday.

This means that Expo visitors will be able to enjoy fast food, classic Chinese cuisine, and coffee and snacks from restaurants including domestic and worldwide brands Pizza Hut, Manabe Coffee, C.Straits Cafe, Jade Garden and others, in an eating area of 15,775 square meters.

Food prices at the Expo will be the same as at downtown outlets, said Chen Xianjing, deputy director of the Shanghai Expo Center. He said the restaurants would be open until midnight, later than the pavilions which will close from 10:30pm.

The center is inviting restaurants to apply to be included in a further 40,000-square-meter food court at the Expo site to include restaurants, cafes, tea houses, coffee shops and bars.

“We will select the restaurants according to their strengths, their brand, their administration — especially when it comes to food safety — their experience of catering big events, and their understanding of the Expo,” said Chen.

It is thought that about 70 percent of up to 600,000 visitors a day will eat on site.

Source:Shanghai Daily