Western fast food chains in China

Western fast food companies hunger for a piece of the Chinese market.

The KFC at the Changchun West train station

Some western fast food chains are doing very well in China. Others have not been so fortunate.

KFC was the first western fast food chain to open in China and it is now the biggest. In China, the Colonel rules supreme with far more outlets than second place McDonald's.

The first KFC was in Beijing in 1987 and by 2018, KFC had 5,919 outlets throughout the country.

KFC is very popular in China because it was smart enough to change its American menu to cater to Chinese tastes.

The above photo shows some of its breakfast options. Customers can buy congee along with western-style breakfast sandwiches.

For lunch and dinner, KFC does sell its signature American-style fried chicken and fries but the chain heavily promotes its spicy sandwiches. They also sell small pieces of corn-on-the cob.

KFC, like McDonald’s, sells fancy ice creams that we don’t have in Canada.

When I was in Shenzhen, I was amused to see Colonel Sanders portrait looking down upon a row of Chinese communist flags. (In this photo, it looks as if he has replaced Chairman Mao.)

If you want to find an American in a Chinese city, just wait in your local McDonald’s restaurant and he’ll be sure to appear looking for his Big Mac fix.

McDonald's opened its first restaurant in Shenzhen in 1990 and now has somewhere around 3,000 restaurants in mainline China.

McDonald's also displays the Chinese flag. This photo shows how much the world has changed for the better in the last 40 years.

McDonald's menu in China is pretty much the same as in the United States so there will be few surprises.

However I would welcome these two ice creams being added to McDonald's menu here in Toronto.

McCafe also entered the Chinese market. I am not sure how well it does. Unlike the McDonald's food counter to its left, which had long lineups, I didn't see a crowd in front of the McCafe at the Nanjing airport. Actually, I didn’t see anyone standing in front of the McCafe. (Maybe that is because the crowds were standing in front of the Starbucks that is right beside it.)

The speciality coffees above look great. We can’t get that attention to detail in the McDonald’s stores in Toronto, Brampton or in Sudbury.

Here is a problem for me. 20¥ equals $4.00 CDN. This is really expensive for a blueberry muffin that costs about $1.20 in Toronto. It's a rip-off.

I was surprised to see Burger King in China. They now have restaurants in all the Chinese cities that I have visited.

In China they have a nice pork sandwich on their menu.

Burger King entered the Chinese market in 2005 and eight years later they had only 63 restaurants. However since then it has expanded rapidly and now has 1,000 outlets and they have plans to open almost one restaurant a day over the next three years.

This is a two-storey Burger King in Changchun.

When I ate at this new shopping mall, I did not go to this Burger King. I didn’t go to China to eat the same fast food that I can get so easily back home.

Instead, I went downstairs and had my dinner at one of the many attractive Chinese restaurants I found there.

The interiors of their new stores have a local theme. This one is in downtown Nanjing.

This Burger King is in Shanghai

This is the order being served that I saw in Shanghai. Four orders ready, two customers are asked to “Wait Patiently”.

This is Burger King’s new look in Toronto. It looks like China was ahead of us.

Toronto has also introduced the Pork Sandwich that I enjoyed in Nanjing. I will have to try it some day.

Subway is also in China. In 2010 they had 150 outlets in China and they planned to quickly catch up to McDonald’s. Personally, I don’t see that happening.

At this Dalian location a four-inch steak, egg and cheese, sandwich cost just 9¥ ($1.80 CDN. Even so, the outlet wasn’t busy.

I drove by this Dunkin’ Donuts outlet in Shanghai. This was the only one I saw in China. There are a lot of Starbucks and Costa cafes in the larger cities.

They first tried to enter the Chinese market in 1994 in Beijing but that attempt bombed. They tried again in 2008 by opening a restaurant in Shanghai. That too was a flop. By 2014 they had about 50 outlets in China.

In 2016 they started their third attempt with the goal of opening 1,400 stores in the next twenty years. I wonder how that will work out.

Costa, the British coffee shop chain, started in 2009 and they had 344 outlets by 2015 with the goal of tripling that to 900 outlets.

In early 2019, Tim Horton’s opened their first outlet in Shanghai. We’ll have to see how well they do. They are a very late entry in a crowded field where the competition, both domestic and foreign, is both competent and fierce.

Dude caught riding shared bike on Shanghai elevated road, dragging luggage behind him

Looking for the fastest way to the Bund, one man rode his Mobike up the Yan’an Elevated Road in Shanghai on Sunday while pulling a piece of luggage behind him with one hand.