Meituan Waimai is one of China’s major food delivery services. And when I say major, I mean huge… food delivery is a billion dollar business, and you can get food delivery services almost anywhere, as long as you have a smartphone and a food delivery app. People here, especially the younger crowd, love these apps as many of them don’t really cook food for themselves and they’re way too busy with their grueling jobs. Plus, the great thing about delivery is that the cost of the food is often cheaper than if you were to go to the actual restaurant to eat! Read on to find out more!
But I’m a foreigner and the app is all in Chinese! How can I get in on this craze that’s found its way into every Chinese home, office, and rice paddy?
Here are the steps you need to take to get delicious dumplings and sweet and sour pork delivered right to your doorstep!
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Download the app
Open your smartphone’s app store and search for “meituan”. It should be one of the first apps you see, with a little yellow kangaroo logo (copying Deliveroo, I’m assuming). Download it and open it up!
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Set up your account
You will need to have a Chinese phone number to complete this step. Tap on the “Me” button in the bottom right-hand corner to get started.
On the “Me” page, tap the text at the top next to the profile picture. Here, you will need to register using your Chinese phone number.
When you finish inputting your phone number, the button underneath will become clickable. Press it to go to the next screen and get your verification code by text message (should be six digits). Enter it and continue.
Setting your address
Tap on the icon circled in red on the “Me” page.
Then, tap the text in the upper right-hand corner. Here, you can set your name, gender, phone number, address, apartment number, and whether the address is your home, your work, or a school. When setting your address, you can use your maps function to try to best approximate your apartment building, but even better if you can get someone to input your specific address in Chinese (you could probably just hand your phone over to your neighbour/coworker/friend and let them do it for you).
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Selecting your meal
Go back to the Home page. If you don’t see your address in top left-hand corner, tap the text and select your address from the list. From the home page, select Food (the first red icon that says 美食).
Once you open it, you can see a list of restaurants in your area. Also, the bar in the middle (see the middle part below showing noodles, pizza and other stuff) displays different categories. You can get classic Chinese foods as well as pizzas and salads (if you dare!). Click on the first one that strikes your fancy.
Taking advantage of discounts
Once you’ve selected a restaurant it will take you to the restaurant’s menu page. However, before you do anything, notice there’s a list of numbers underneath the restaurant’s profile picture:
These are automatic order discounts. That means that if you order enough food, you can get a discount. Usually, the more you order, the better the discount. In the list, you can see 满10减 6. This means that if you buy 10 RMB worth of food (not including delivery fee), the restaurant will strike 6 RMB off your bill. They will also encourage you to buy more by saying 再买… 减… after you’ve obtained the first discount, which means if you buy (a certain amount) more, you will get (a certain amount) more off your total bill.
Some places will artificially inflate their prices on the app to give you the illusion that you’re getting a good deal. However, with the automatic discount you’ll end up paying about the same as if you ordered food at the actual restaurant (or even less!) It’s all mind games, eh?
Custom options
Sometimes, custom options might pop up. Some important words you should know are 不辣 (non-spicy) and 小 (small size), 中 (medium size), and 大 (large size). Once you’ve made your pick, click the + button to add them to your cart. You can customize your meal even further right before you pay the bill (see Adding notes below).
Sale items
You can see which specials a restaurant has on sale by clicking the button in the left-side panel circled in red.
You can usually find some pretty sweet deals here. However, if you buy any item from here you won’t get the automatic order discount, since these items are technically already discounted. Choose wisely!
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Paying
Once you’re done, click on the yellow button at the bottom right hand corner of the page next to the cost (not including delivery fee). You will be taken to the paying page. Here, you can use coupons, add notes or pay for a “punctuality fee”.
Using coupons
Meituan Waimai has this cool thing where every time you complete an order, it will ask you to share “red envelopes” with your friends on social media (mainly WeChat and QQ). After you send them, go find them and click on them to get a “red envelope” coupon.
They will usually range from 0.5 to 2 RMB, and you can use them in your next order if your order reaches the designated amount. However, the designated amount is the pre-discount total, so for example:
You have a coupon that works only if you spend 30 RMB;
You spend 30 but get a 15 RMB automatic discount so your total bill is 15;
You can still use your coupon! If you have any available coupons, they will be displayed like this:
Click to enter the coupon page and select a coupon.
Adding notes
Notes allows you to customize your meal slightly. When you’re on the paying page, scroll down and find 备注 (Notes).
Tap to open it and you’ll see this:
The text box at the top allows you to write anything you want (of course, it has to be in Chinese). If you can’t speak Chinese, here’s what I highly recommend doing: Usually, when your food is about to arrive or the delivery guy (or girl 2% of the time) will call you to say your food is here or to ask you for specific directions so they don’t spend an extra 10 minutes searching. But, if you don’t speak Chinese, there’s no point. So, in the text box, have someone who can speak Chinese type this:
“我不会中文，直接上门口敲门”
Which means: “I don’t speak Chinese, just come and knock on my door”. This should cut out the whole phone call part and make it easier for the both of you to complete your objectives.
“Punctuality fee”
There’s an option where you can pay a fee equal to 1% of your total bill to make sure your food comes on time, or the delivery guy/restaurant will incur a monetary penalty. They’ll deliver your food at lightning speed!
Completing payment
Click the button in the bottom-right corner to start paying.
On the payment screen, you can confirm your order, use coupons, or add notes. Once you’re confirmed, click the bottom right button and it will take you to this screen:
For simplicity’s sake, select WeChat Pay (the green checkmark icon). Then click the yellow button on the bottom to get to the transaction screen. Confirm the total and press Pay Now. Enter your password, and you’re done! Well, there are some extras.
After you pay
After you pay, a popup with a picture of a red envelope with arms shows up. This is the “share coupon” feature I mentioned above.
You can choose not to share (取消) or you can share (发红包). If you choose share, you’ll be asked to share via WeChat and it will take you to a list of your WeChat contacts and groups. Send it to anyone you like! In addition, you can view the status of your order and your delivery guy’s approximate location if you return to your order:
It will show you how far the delivery guy is from the store, how far away he is from you, and the estimated delivery time so you know how long you need to wait before you start going berserk from hanger.
That’s pretty much it! If you have any more questions, leave them in the comment section below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Happy ordering!