Photo: Xibei Youmiancun's official Weibo account

International fast food chains have shown more resilience and agility than China's local players to risks brought on by the coronavirus outbreak through their swift response mechanism, more organized management and extensive online presence.

Almost 3,000 restaurants of McDonald's China continued operations since the outbreak, in stark contrast to some high-profile local catering chain brands like Xibei Youmiancun that forecast in February a cash crunch in three months.

Besides setting up a special anti-epidemic team to guarantee the health and safety of its workers, delivery people as well as customers, McDonald's launched its "contactless" pick-up across the country. It works by letting customers order through an app or self-service machines, and then get their food at the pick-up window.

KFC and Starbucks took the same measures. Yum China Holdings started contactless deliveries on January 30 at its KFC and Pizza Hut locations, the company said.

Starbucks told the Global Times that 90 percent of the company's 4,300 stores in China were open again by Thursday, after the epidemic forced the coffee chain to temporarily shut down more than half of its stores.

The company said it suggests customers order coffee through its app and the beverage will be placed on tables near the entrance. 

If they go to the stores to pick up their coffee, they will have their temperature taken at the entrance. For deliveries, Starbucks said its delivery people regularly sanitize their vehicles and boxes and leave the package in a place where customers can pick up their orders without contact.

Liu Renjun, a manager of Hunan Xiangjun Catering Co, told the Global Times on Friday that these brands' online expansion helped their businesses at a time some provinces asked restaurants to welcome patrons.

Compared to KFC's flagship store on Alibaba's Tmall online marketplace, where the brand has nearly four million fans, Liu has just started its food takeout business.

"The takeout business has allowed our revenue to recover by 20 percent of the pre-virus level," he said, noting that he will put more focus on online and takeout to minimize risks after the epidemic ends.

In a document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Starbucks said it forecast sales in China stores open for at least a year to drop by 50 percent in the second quarter ending March due to the epidemic, or a loss of $400-$430 million to its revenue in the country.