Photo/Liu Yang (NBD)

China's catering market is expected to further grow in 2019, according to the China Cuisine Association.

Market volume is expected to exceed 4.6 trillion yuan (about 649.8 billion U.S. dollars) this year, surging over 800 times than 1978, said the association's head Jiang Junxian.

China is now the world's second-largest catering market, with total revenue growing 9.5 percent to top 4.2 trillion yuan last year. 

In the first eight months, the revenue of the industry rose 9.4 percent year on year to about 2.88 trillion yuan, official data showed.

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn