Fast food in mainland China has been a fairly recent development, with the first Kentucky Fried Chicken opening in 1987, and the first McDonalds opening 1990. Both of these restaurants experienced quick success, not necessarily due to the price and quality of their food, but because of how sanitary their restaurants were compared to their Chinese counterparts. In fact, KFC and McDonalds were more expensive than the local Chinese restaurant but still garnered more customers.
Besides the clean image that these western fast food joints portrayed, they were also geniuses at marketing. After asking families why they come to their restaurant, KFC found that parents don’t actually care what fast food restaurant they go to, they just let their kids decide. KFC immediately changed their logo to a playful cartoon character called “chicky” as they understood that they needed to get the attention of kids. Children were uninterested in a bearded European man but a cartoon chicken would surely be more attractive. In addition, KFC implemented children play zones, child-height sinks, settings for birthday parties, and smaller furniture. All of these changes re-branded KFC into a “fun and exciting place to eat” and significantly increased profits.
Similarly, McDonalds also realized the importance in appealing to kids as they were the ones choosing where the family eats. However, they didn’t need to change their logo like KFC because kids already loved Ronald McDonald. This is evident as according to a study done at 3 Beijing schools, nearly every student recognized the name McDonald.
American fast food restaurants have been dominating the fast food market in China ever since their arrival, but some may be wondering why aren’t Chinese fast food companies doing as well? One reason for this could be because Chinese food by nature is made quickly and conveniently so Chinese people are used to having food prepared in this manner. American fast food offers something new and different and thus intrigues many Chinese people to purchase it over traditional Chinese fast food. Another reason is the lack of sanitation in many Chinese restaurants due to very few health and safety laws. American fast food restaurants are forced to have these sanitation laws and thus are much cleaner and appealing to customers.
Overall, the introduction of American fast food into China has further spread American culture into China and increased competition between American and Chinese fast food restaurants.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_food_in_China
I thought this post was very insightful and explains a lot of why lots of American fast food is popular in China. It is kind of funny how there is a contrast in viewpoints in fast food places. In America, lots of people shy away from these places because of the unhealthy, poor quality food, and unsanitary conditions but in China it's more popular because its better than what they had in place before. Going to China and witnessing the fast food places there, its surprising how much more sanitary and clean it is compared to the US actually.
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