Further, the restaurant may import foods, ingredients and equipments from
overseas for self-use (i.e. use the foods/ingredients/equipments to cook the
dishes for customers) or sales to customers (i.e. sales the imported goods
without further processing to the customers). Please note that importation
and domestic sales are not covered under the normal business scope of a
restaurant. If the imported goods are for self-use only, the restaurant could
apply for the import/export right with the local approval authority (i.e.
Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”)) with the need to expand the business
scope. The application for import/export right itself is not difficult. But to
expand the business scope, the foreign investor would need to go through
similar procedures as setting up the restaurant (see detailed information in
Section 3 below), which is complicated and time-consuming.