Reprieve from hours in the kitchen on a day of joy

Chefs at Idachu's central kitchen prepare for Chinese New Year holiday dinners.

The New Year's Eve service was launched only about six weeks before the big day last year, but the company has been promoting this year's New Year's Eve service since October.

Eight set menus at prices ranging from 1888 yuan ($290) to 9,999 yuan are being offered.

More than 1,000 orders were received by the end of last week, Xu says, and a total of about 3,500 chefs in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen are waiting to provide their services to Chinese families over the Spring Festival period.

Nie Ming, who was a chef before he joined the company last year, says it has worked with upmarket restaurants and has taken steps to ensure it has adequate staff during the Spring Festival period.

When making a reservation, app users are required to pay a deposit that is usually half the total price before the Spring Festival.

An Idachu customer service officer later calls or e-mails the customer to ask if there are any special dietary needs, Nie says.

During the year Idachu offers a service in which its chefs visit homes and cook with the ingredients that the customer provides, but during the Spring Festival period the special nature of meals entails more unusual ingredients, so Idachu provides all of them, he says.