They will hold their store managers accountable. Here's what it was like. Starbucks has an ou… Restaurant brands like KFC, McDonalds, and Starbucks have been expanding rapidly in China. Though predominantly Western-educated, being ethnic Chinese, they inherently understood China. Back then, a KFC meal was considered a luxury to most Chinese. The operation was a joint venture, with a 60 percent stake held by KFC, 27 percent by the Beijing Tourist Bureau and 13 percent by Beijing Food Production. McDonald’s plans to open 2,000 additional restaurants in China, which will make China the company’s second largest market after the U.S. And China is the biggest earnings driver for Yum Brands, which owns Pizza Hut and KFC; it announced plans to add more than 15,000 restaurants in the next 15 years. “The numbers are still holding up well and these American companies are still announcing that they’re opening up more stores,” Dong says. Häagen-Dazs markets itself as a premium brand and often decks out its stores in gold accents and posh red furniture to target the higher-end consumer. Today, KFC and McDonald’s are the top-grossing American fast-food chains in China, with KFC consistently leading ahead of McDonald’s. What happens in China, what Chinese people eat, impacts what you and I pay for food." KFC is popular in China because its western food, and chinese also likes to taste ot, just like Mc Donald. Though options like rice bowls and bubble milk tea fill out the menu, the Chicago-based company hasn’t been as bullish on adapting its dishes for the Chinese consumer. With more than 5,000 restaurants in 1,100 cities in China, KFC dominates the country’s fast food landscape. According to a report from IBIS, the fast-food industry in China generated roughly $150.9 billion in 2017, up 9.6 percent from 2016. McDonald’s notably brought its own french fry vendor, Simplot, to China to grow its own potatoes. Not only is the KFC name simply faster and easier to say, according to the official KFC website, but other reports also note that the nickname was already popular with customers, too. ... ‘One of the reasons the campaign lasted so long is … Another vital ingredient in KFC’s secret recipe is its leadership team, specifically its founding leadership team known as the ‘Taiwan Gang’, mainly because most had hailed from Taiwan and to a lesser extent, other parts of Asia. “That’s a signal that they have confidence in the market and are not pulling back.”, Clarissa Wei is an LA-based journalist who has spent extensive time in China and Taiwan.Editor: Daniela Galarza, The freshest news from the food world every day, Why China Loves American Chain Restaurants So Much, Sign up for the “If you have brands in a virgin market like China,” says Dong, “You can rebrand, go upscale, and do something completely different from your traditional model.” And that’s precisely what American brands have been doing in China over the last three decades. The Kentucky Fried Chicken brand is making a comeback in Australia, such so on KFC's website (above). Pizza Hut in China has a full wine list and a three-course menu complete with dessert. “There’s a trust arbitrage in China,” Dong says. KFC’s first location was on the southern edge of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. And in 2012, KFC and Pizza Hut owner Yum Brands was hit with allegations that its suppliers had injected hormones and drugs exceeding food safety limits into their poultry. Today, as the vanguard of Western businesses, Kendeji,as KFC is known in the China, stands as sparkling economic testament to the influx of capitalism in the aftermath of Mao’s revolution in China. Sam Su has headed the China wing of KFC's parent company, Yum Brands, since KFC first came to Beijing in 1987. We took a 4-hour flight on the new Delta Airbus jet that Boeing tried to keep out of the US. Some companies, such as AT&T and GE, have been in China … But that desire for American “status symbol” dishes might be fading. What happened in China with Yum! In China, KFC has achieved such dominance over McDonald’s and local rivals that Colonel Harland Sanders’s image is a far more common sight in many Chinese cities than that of Mao. McDonalds in China is as efficient as it is anywhere in the world, so being in China has nothing to do with KFC’s problems. That's why within the next four years, McDonald's plans to open a new outlet daily in China. Locking in real estate at heavily trafficked hot spots has been at the core of these companies’ development plans. Despite the increased competition, Dong says American companies don’t seem to be slowing down their Chinese expansion plans. “And when you’re next to tourist sites you have foreign and domestic customers. In 2015, Simplot was fined for water pollution. It took off quickly, and so did the Harvard-educated Okawara, who climbed through the company ranks and served as president and CEO of Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan from 1984 to 2002. The first McDonald's in Shenzhen was supplied from Hong Kong from 1990 to 1992. But, at least in China, KFC is far more than just a fried chicken specialist. Forget turkey. By the time the first McDonald's in Beijing opened in 1992, mainland China had proper infrastructure to supply the restaurants. KFC is best known for serving fried chicken to Americans by the bucketful, but it actually makes most of its money in China. In addition to being the world’s most populous country, Dong points out that “the population is highly concentrated across the eastern seaboard of China from Beijing, back to Guangzhou, and Shanghai in the middle” — and Western brands have been especially proficient at securing prime real estate in these cities, especially at iconic historical sites. 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