The century-and-a-half-old original Qianmen location of Beijing’s world-famous roast duck restaurant Quanjude is being actively investigated for an unauthorized building add-on that has remained on the restaurant’s roof despite fundraising 49 million yuan to pay for a building expansion three years ago.
The Daily Economic News has confirmed with the Dongcheng branch of the Beijing Planning Commission that the Qianmen branch of Quanjude is under investigation for violating municipal building codes.
“Yes, there is, it’s on the roof, if you’re talking about the one up there,” said an unidentified employee of the commission who stated they went to the restaurant and personally saw the illegal structure said to be in use. “That planning has never been approved. I’ve checked with the chengguan department, and they are currently addressing the issue.”
A spokesperson for the Dongcheng chengguan (city management workers) said their department was made aware of the illegal addition at Quanjude Qianmen last month. The spokesperson also said the illegal addition was said to be built in 2008.
It wasn’t explained how the Dongcheng chengguan hadn’t been aware of or done anything about it in the almost 10 years since the addition was illegally built.
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For their part, Quanjude Qianmen categorically deny any suggestion that they have an illegally built room on their restaurant. “Up to now, I have not heard any word that we have illegal construction,” a person representing Quanjude Qianmen told the Daily Economic News. “No government department has contacted us.”
Following the short interview, the reporter for the Daily Economic News circled around the back of Quanjude Qianmen and found there to be a structure resembling temporary housing on the north-end of the restaurant’s roof (shown below).
More shocking than the illegal structure’s 10-year existence is that the restaurant raised money to address its lack of operating space, but hasn’t used this money to build anything so far. Quanjude raised 49,503,400 yuan (USD 7.4 million) on the equity market in 2014 and yet today has nothing to show for it.
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It’s been a bad year for Quanjude so far. This past April, Quanjude closed down its home delivery service after encountering massive losses. Earlier this month, the restaurant’s biannual report revealed the company responsible for its home deliveries suffered an annual loss of 13.44 million yuan (USD 2 million) last year after eight months of operation. Before shutting down in April of this year, Quanjude home delivery posted a 2017 loss of 2.43 million yuan.
But it’s not all bad: Just last December, Quanjude was one of 20 Beijing restaurants to make it onto the prestigious French-ranked La Liste 2017 of the world’s best restaurants, while also earning “outstanding” honors for “Best Beijing Duck” in the casual dining category in the the Beijinger’s 2016 Readers Restaurant Awards. To celebrate its 150th anniversary, Quanjude opened a roast duck museum as it sold its 196 millionth roast duck in 2014.
And yet, with other restaurants usurping its position as Beijing’s best roast duck restaurant, Quanjude’s time in the limelight may already be at an end.
Despite its popularity with tourists and expats, we here at the Beijinger have had a hard time recommending Quanjude because “their expansion to more than two dozen locations throughout Beijing has resulted in uneven service quality, and their popularity has seen their duck prices rise to RMB 298 a pop.” Meanwhile, profits for Quanjude dropped 28 percent in 2013 as China’s luxury brands waned in light of national austerity measures.
As a historical building, Quanjude Qianmen is protected by the city’s cultural preservation laws, and so is unlikely to be torn down, as suggested by some Chinese headlines. On the slim chance that it does get shuttered, it will signify a loss of an old building in an area newly-built to resemble old buildings, a trend happening in Fuchengmen and the capital’s amusement parks.
The news follows reports that two branches of another Beijing dining favorite, Haidilao, had to be shut down because of rat infestations.
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