Conclusion first: to open an ordinary food delivery store on Meituan or Ele.me, the hard thresholds are the business license and food business license — a trademark is not mandatory. But as soon as you want to open a "brand store" or "flagship store," use a brand word in the store name, or prevent others from impersonating your store name, the trademark goes from a "bonus" to a "must-answer question." The new online catering rules effective June 2026 also require the online store name to match the physical storefront sign, making online-offline brand consistency a regulatory requirement.
1. Basic Onboarding Qualifications: Licenses First, Trademarks Not Required
Per Meituan's Review and Registration Specification for Online Catering Service Providers and platform onboarding requirements:
- Business license: must be a valid original with intact border and national emblem, clearly photographed; key information such as registration number, name, address, and business scope must not be obscured or altered, and there must be no third-party watermark; black-and-white copies must bear a red company seal (contract seals not accepted);
- Industry permits: food business license, catering service license, etc., must correspond to the business license entity; the legal person on the business license must match the one on the catering service license;
- Physical store: must have a lawful self-operated physical store, and the actual operating address must match the licensed address;
- Personnel and display materials: photo of the legal representative/person in charge holding their ID, quantitative grading information display, etc.
The Provisions on Supervising Food and Beverage Service Operators in Implementing Food Safety Primary Responsibility for Online Catering (Order No. 123 of the Administration for Market Regulation), effective June 1, 2026, further require: online catering merchants must continuously display operating qualifications, the physical storefront, and the actual operating address in a prominent position on the delivery store homepage; those offering no dine-in must mark "no dine-in"; and the online store name must be consistent with the physical storefront sign. This means: whatever your store name/sign is, the online store must be called the same — and if the sign uses a brand word, trademark ownership becomes unavoidable.
2. Store Naming and Use of Brand Words
- An ordinary restaurant's store name usually matches its storefront sign, using trade name + category description (e.g., "×× Noodle House" or "×× Fried Chicken"); a trademark is not mandatory;
- Where brand LOGOs or brand words are used in the store name, header image, or detail pages, platform rules generally require that they not infringe others' trademark rights or other legitimate rights; Meituan's merchant management rules expressly require merchants to submit qualification documents necessary for their operations, including but not limited to the business license, administrative license documents, trademark registration certificate, and trademark use authorization letter;
- Header image rules are also worth noting: the header image should be a dish photo or the merchant's LOGO, without watermarks or other brands' logos, and without exaggerated promotional claims — using another brand's logo as a header image is a typical violation and infringement.
3. Brand Stores / Flagship Stores: Trademarks Are a Hard Threshold
Ele.me manages brand-type stores under a "store type + brand qualification" system (retail/e-commerce merchant onboarding rules):
- Flagship store: opened with an owned brand (holding the registration certificate) or a brand under exclusive authorization from the trademark owner; non-owners opening directly must submit an exclusive authorization letter from the trademark owner; operating multiple brands requires that all brands be under the same actual controller with supporting proof;
- Exclusive store: opened with a brand under ordinary authorization from the trademark owner, requiring the registration certificate plus authorization letter;
- Specialty store: operating two or more brands in the same category, requiring each brand's registration certificate, with authorizations being complete chains originating from the trademark owners;
- Mall-type flagship store: opened with a service-class trademark registration certificate; non-owners likewise need exclusive authorization;
- Authorization chain requirements: certain businesses (e.g., pharmacies, medical devices) have special tier rules, such as flagship stores requiring first-tier authorization for domestic brands and complete authorization within two tiers for foreign brands; where the trademark owner is a natural person, a copy of their personally signed ID must accompany the authorization;
- Naming rules: the flagship store naming format is "brand name + (category) + flagship store," and store names may not exceed 24 characters.
The same applies on Meituan: the merchant management rules require merchants to submit qualifications such as trademark registration certificates and trademark use authorization letters as needed, and to file updated documents within three working days when qualifications change. To obtain the "brand" or "flagship" badge and corresponding traffic placements on the platform, trademarks and authorization chains are the entry ticket.
4. Anti-Counterfeiting: The Trademark Is the Most Effective Weapon
Impersonating stores on delivery platforms typically appear as: copying your store name and storefront photos, imitating your brand LOGO, or intercepting traffic under names like "×× Branch" or "×× Main Store." Response paths:
- Register before opening: register the brand word as a trademark (core catering service is Class 43; delivery retail may add Class 35, and food adds the corresponding goods classes) — this is the prerequisite for all subsequent enforcement; if unsure whether the brand word is registrable, get a trademark registrability assessment to confirm before investing;
- Platform complaint: report impersonating stores through the platform's IP complaint channel with the registration certificate, requesting removal or closure; the complaint materials must satisfy three hard requirements — consistent ownership, clear documents, and a complete authorization chain;
- Evidence preservation: screenshot and notarize the impersonating store's pages, sales, and reviews to preserve evidence for subsequent claims;
- Ongoing monitoring: conduct trademark monitoring on core brand words to detect squatting early — once a squatted trademark is approved, the other party can in turn complain against you, at which point opposition, invalidation, or non-use cancellation proceedings may be evaluated;
- Same name online and offline: per the new rules, keep the online store name consistent with the storefront — this is both compliance and makes it easier for consumers to tell real from fake stores.
5. The Five Most Common Pitfalls
- License legal persons inconsistent: different legal persons on the business license and the food business license — onboarding rejected outright;
- Store name inconsistent with the storefront: online called "×× Flagship Store" while the physical sign says something else — violates the new online catering rules and is easily complained about;
- Using brand words without authorization: a franchisee gets the supply channel but not the trademark authorization and uses the brand word in the store name, then is removed after a complaint from the brand owner;
- Incomplete authorization chain: a second-tier authorization cannot produce the first-tier sub-authorization proof, failing brand qualification review;
- Only thinking of registration after being impersonated: the brand word has already been squatted by someone else, and enforcement costs far exceed registration costs.
6. Summary
The trademark logic of delivery platforms is layered: ordinary stores rely on licenses, brand operation relies on trademarks, and anti-counterfeiting relies on registration plus monitoring. Making the store name, storefront, and online store a unified whole is both a compliance requirement of the 2026 online catering rules and the moat of brand assets. The platform rules cited in this article are current as of 2026; platform review standards change frequently, so always defer to the platforms' latest official rules before proceeding.