Source: China Daily

12-03-2008 19:17

In a nation that has taken pride in the delicacy and diversity of a cuisine which dates back thousands of years, it is astonishing that foreign fast food chains like Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and McDonald's have dominated the fast food industry in China. Over the past two decades, domestic competitors have come and gone, but now a new round of competition is gearing up in China's fast food industry.

November 12, 1987 was a milestone in the fast food industry in China. That was the day KFC, the world's leading fast food chain, having failed in Hong Kong in 1975, made its first foray into the Chinese mainland. It was three years before the global behemoth McDonald's came to China and built its first outlet in Shenzhen.

KFC's entry marked the beginning of the fast food industry in China. Many Beijingers still recall the opening day of the first KFC store. It was in a three-story building of 1,100 square meters in Qianmen, about a five-minute walk from Tian'anmen Square. It is still the largest KFC store worldwide, by floor space.

The line of consumers wanting to purchase the 12-yuan KFC hamburger or 8-yuan fried chicken, or those just wanting a glimpse of the store, extended 50 meters down the road to Tian'anmen Square. On that day, the Qianmen store sold out its 2,200 buckets of fried chicken and made 83,000 yuan.

Such avid consumer enthusiasm may have been beyond the fast food giant's expectations, but it was not implausible. KFC brought the idea of "fast food" to China nine years after China embraced the opening-up and reform policy in 1978, when Chinese curiosity about the West was at a peak.