Austerity push takes a bite out of holiday sales at restaurants

Restaurants recorded their weakest growth for the Spring Festival in six years as an austerity campaign hit sales, the China Cuisine Association said on Monday.

From Jan 31 to Feb 6, retail and catering industry sales totaled 610.7 billion yuan ($100 billion), up 13.3 percent - the slowest growth rate since 2009.

The association said the industry's situation "isn't promising" for at least the first two months of this year, with growth likely to be the same as in January and February 2013.