KFC in China
KFC is a fast food restaurant chain that specializes in fried chicken and is China's largest restaurant chain. KFC restauruants in China are owned or franchised by Yum China, a restaurant company that also owns the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains in China and was spun off from Yum! Brands in 2016.
KFC has 5,138 outlets in China as of 2017.
According to research by Millward Brown, KFC was the most powerful foreign brand in China in 2013.
KFC became the first Western fast food company in China after its first outlet opened in Qianmen, Beijing, in November 1987. 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. In early 1988, Bank of China took a 25 percent stake in the venture, and KFC's original stake was diluted to 51 percent.
Warren Liu, a former vice-president of Tricon Global Restaurants (KFC's former parent company) argued that, "being the first ... has continued to provide KFC with a substantial competitive advantage." By 1988 the Beijing outlet had the highest volume sales of any KFC in the world.
Instead of importing American managers, KFC hired management from rising Asian economies such as Taiwan. Existing Chinese distribution infrastructure was poor or non-existent, so KFC created its own, which ensured high quality standards. The chain had an early advantage against its Western fast food rivals, as fried chicken has been a staple Chinese dish since antiquity, whereas hamburgers were foreign and relatively unknown.
By 1994, there were 28 KFC outlets in China, including seven in Beijing. By 1997, there were 100 outlets.
In 2008, CEO David Novak announced plans to open more than 20,000 restaurants in China, saying: "We're in the first innings of a nine-innings ball game in China."
At the start of 2008, the chain added its first Chinese street food snack to its menu, the youtiao. The street snack menu was expanded in 2010 with the addition of the shaobing. In August 2010, KFC China announced its biggest product launch to date: the Rice Bowl, which heralded the arrival of rice as an accompaniment across the chain.
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