[1][2][3][4] Another tradition that influenced Beijing cuisine (as well as influenced by the latter itself) is the Chinese imperial cuisine that originated from the "Emperor's Kitchen" (御膳房; yùshànfáng), which referred to the cooking facilities inside the Forbidden City, where thousands of cooks from different parts of China showed their best culinary skills to please the imperial family and officials.

Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to determine the actual origin of a dish as the term "Mandarin" is generalised and refers not only to Beijing, but other provinces as well.

When these officials had completed their terms in the capital and returned to their native provinces, most of the chefs they brought along often remained in Beijing.

[1][4] The imperial clan of the Ming dynasty, the House of Zhu, who had ancestry from Jiangsu Province, also contributed greatly in introducing Huaiyang cuisine to Beijing when the capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing in the 15th century, because the imperial kitchen was mainly Huaiyang style.

Unlike the earlier two cuisines, which were brought by the ruling class such as nobles, aristocrats and bureaucrats and then spread to the general populace, the introduction of Shandong cuisine begun with serving the general populace, with much wider market segment, from wealthy merchants to the working class.

As chefs freely switched between jobs offered by different establishments, they brought their skills that further enriched and developed Beijing cuisine.

Though the stratification of food services in Beijing was no longer effected by imperial laws, the structure more or less remained despite continuous weakening due to the financial background of the local clientele.

The bulk foodservice business was catering at customers' homes or other locations, often for birthdays, marriages, funerals, promotions and other important celebrations and festivals.

Leng zhuangzi (冷庄子; 冷莊子; lěng zhuāngzǐ; 'cold village') lacked any rooms to host banquets, and thus their business was purely catering.

Occasionally, when catering at the customers' homes, establishments of this category would only provide the few specialty dishes they were famous for, just like the lou.

Zhai (斋; 齋; zhāi; 'study'), or zhai zihao (斋字号; 齋字號; zhāi zìhào; 'study brand') were mainly in the business of serving different customers onsite on a walk-in basis, but a small portion of their income did come from hosting banquets by appointment for customers who came as one group.

Foodservice establishments of this category mainly served different customers onsite on a walk-in basis, and in addition, a portion of the income would be earned from selling to-goes.

Establishments of this category had fixed spots of business for having their own places, but smaller than dian, and thus did not have tables, but only seats for customers.