Read this essay writ a primary response.
When time goes back to 1987, China had the first KFC located in Tiananmen Square. During that time, people
in China had no idea what KFC is and the food KFC offered are not popular, but this new style of food and
dining environment did impressed civilians. Nowadays, in 2020, KFC is one of the leading restaurants in the
fast-food industry with more than 5,000 restaurants in 1,100 cities in China. I believe the success of KFC in
China stays close to the discerning and mature business strategies.
First and most importantly, KFC is a western brand that infusing Chinese elements. Managers were willing to
see customers consider KFC as a part of the Chinese local community so that brought so many traditional
Chinese foods in order to draw the public’s attention. Key to KFC’s success in the country has been its
aggressive catering to Chinese tastes, with menu items that will never make their way to US restaurants
(Jacobs, 2019).
In China, KFC offers not only fried chicken and hamburgers but more local food, such as congee (rice
porridge), and the “dragon Twister”. Some dishes you may never see them in countries out of China since the
menu is only for KFC China to operate. KFC China’s menus typically include 50 items, compared with about 29
in the United States (Bell & Shelman, 2011). The ‘Menu Strategy’ successfully got the Chinese public’s
attention because it provides both novel dining styles, which is combining western and local taste, as well as
the food that people accepted.
Moreover, another strategy that may contribute to the success of KFC China is to expanding rapidly. Unlike
KFC’s biggest opponent, McDonald, KFC targeted on mid-size and small cities in China. By doing so, it means
that KFC China was able to control the most crowded region in different cities and built its own network.
Meanwhile, choosing small cities limited the scale of KFC stores so that saved more expenses. From site
selection to the grand opening, it takes KFC China four to six months to bring a new restaurant into the world—
about half the time required in the U.S. Some 700 Chinese cities now have outlets whereas McDonald China
only has one third market share than KFC China ( Bell & Shelman, 2011 ).
By looking at business strategies KFC applied to the Chinese market, I could not agree more, and the result
shows KFC’s strategies did work perfectly compared to other brands. In my perspective, I believe when the
management level of KFC was thinking strategies, they actually consider the actual circumstances in China. In
other words, KFC builds restaurants offering a variety of foods and the traditional dishes that appeal to Chinese
customers. Besides, KFC China enlarged outlets in order to allow more customers as families or groups, which
perfectly fit the Chinese habit. As a famous American fast-food brand, KFC embraced China, adjusting the
menu to local tastes while competitors, who had met with greater success elsewhere, attempted to peddle their
well-worn wares to a disinterested public.
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