Fast-food giant ups its Chinese dish offerings
- Source: Global Times
- [13:41 June 07 2010]
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A customer exits a KFC on Wujiang Road Sunday. The fast-food giant will provide rice dishes beginning today in a bid to further localize its menu. Photo: Tang Zhao
By Tang Zhao
Fast-food outlet KFC has increased its China-specific offerings to include two rice dishes in an attempt to entice more people through its doors in the face of ever-growing competition.
Since 2002, KFC - which first entered the Chinese mainland in 1987 - has offered a token selection of easily-standardized local dishes across its more than 3,000 branches countrywide, including youtiao (deep-fried dough sticks), soybean drinks, shaobing (fried puffs) and porridge.
A KFC spokesperson said that the launch of rice set meals reflects its strategy which is a combination of localization and innovation, mixing Chinese traditions with Western fast food, according to the Beijing Times.
However, it could be a sign that local competitors, such as Dicos, which already offer a range of rice dishes as well as burgers and fries, are making themselves felt.
Other foreign brands have also turned to offering region-specific products.
McDonald's launched a two-month promotion to tie in with the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai in April, featuring a Shanghainese-style hamburger with sweet and sour pork, and chicken wings with fermented toufu.
Starbucks started selling nine types of Chinese-style tea drinks on February 25. It also provides other local foods such as mooncakes and zongzi (packed glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings), which is a traditional food of the Dragon Boat Festival falling on June 16 this year.
Although some local diners were willing to try KFC's new rice dishes when Global Times spoke to them Sunday, enthusiasm was muted.
"I do not think I will go to KFC to eat rice meals as they are not something the restaurant is good at," Chen Ling, a local office worker, said. He added that he prefers to buy Chinese dish-es at small restaurants around his residential compound.
Another local resident surnamed Zhang said that she would probably not buy localized products from Western chains. "The taste of their dishes may not be as good as specialized Chinese restaurants."
Zang Qinghe, an instructor from the School of Business at Beijing Technology and Business University, told the Global Times that offering local dishes will have some impact on Chinese counterparts.
