Huang Zehe Peanut Soup Shop in Xiamen is a time-honored store founded roughly 100 years ago. [Photo/VCG]

Online sales, boosted by preferential policies and livestreaming, have been booming in East China's Fujian province since the COVID-19 outbreak, and many time-honored restaurants in the province have shifted their focus to online sales, local media reported on May 9.

Catering companies across the country have been hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic, as people stay indoors. In response, restaurants in Fujian have changed their traditional business models and have begun offering takeout and delivery services online.

"We have to offer delivery options for the first time in order to mitigate losses caused by the ban on dine-in services," according to Chen Gong, owner of a time-honored restaurant selling stewed ducks in soy sauce in the province's capital city of Fuzhou.

Chen added that his restaurant has tried to boost sales using a variety of methods, including selling products via livestream, which have resulted in a sales boom over the past several weeks.

Many traditional time-honored delicacies in Fuzhou have found a way to turn the challenge into an opportunity by adjusting their online marketing strategies.

Some high-end catering enterprises have successfully kept pace with the changing habits of consumers.

Fuzhou Yonghe Club, a seafood restaurant in Fuzhou, has optimized its business and operation models by offering diners a doorstep delivery service, which has brought about a boom in business.