Fast food restaurants are popular among the consumers nowadays. Many fast food restaurants are trying to serve the needs in the market as people seek for quick and convenient place to eat. Due to the fact that there are a huge amount of fast food chains available in the global market, fast food companies have to strive for success. Just by providing quick and convenient style of eating for the customers is not sufficient to stay competitive. This is why it is interesting to study and learn about a fast food company that stands out in such a competitive environment. What has KFC China been doing to become successful? What marketing strategies did they use to dominate the market? We shall find out in the following sections.
History and General Background
KFC is one of the most popular fast-food restaurant chains by the Yum! Brands and fried chicken is what the company specializes. KFC was founded by Harland Sanders, which was later known as Colonel Sanders. Moreover, KFC was one of the first fast-food restaurant chains to expand internationally, including the opening outlets in Beijing, China, in November 1987 (KFC Website, 2013). The fact that KFC was the first Western fast food company in China makes it very challenging to satisfy the Chinese market. Trying to sell the same products or services is a typical approach to most foreign expansion for franchise businesses (Bell, 2011). However, one-size fits all approach is not what KFC chooses to apply for their company. According to Shelman, the writer of the case study regarding KFC’s Explosive Growth in China, key success for KFC China is to change the menu to suit Chinese tastes and style of eating (Starvish, 2011). “One of the lessons I take away from this case is that to ...
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KFC Website. (2013). Responsibility. Retrieved from http://www.kfc.com/about/responsibility.asp
Liu, W. (2008). When in rome: the key to KFC’s success story in China. Retrieved from http://www.businessforum-china.com/management_article_detail.html?articleid=355&nowpage=1
Oches, S. (2013). The qsr 50. Retrieved from http://www.qsrmagazine.com/reports/qsr-50-0
Starvish, M. (2011). KFC’s explosive growth in China. Retrieved from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6704.html
Yum CSR. (2012). KFC linhyin Hangzhou leed gold restaurant & KFC jingpan shanghai leed gold restaurant. Retrieved from http://www.yumcsr.com/environment/green-building-examples.asp
Zhou, L. (2012). Cultural adaptation pattern analysis of McDonald’s and KFC in the Chinese market. Retrieved from http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:534795/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Chinese restaurants have some good and bad qualities, but both do well in their own situation.
The fast food restaurant industry, which includes quick-service and fast-casual restaurants, is highly segmented with the top 50 companies accounting for only 25% of the industry’s sales. The $120 billion industry includes over 200,000 restaurants with 50% of those specializing in hamburger entrees. (hoovers.com 2008) The major competitors in the industry include McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Subway, and KFC – Chick-fil-A’s major competitor in chicken sales. Chick-fil-A’s unique position in the market, specializing in chicken-based entrées, has lead to a competitive advantage which the company has been able to capitalize on. Recently, many competitors have added chicken entrees in order to compete in the market segment. Through marketing strategies and company initiatives, Chick-fil-A has tried to stay distant from competitors, offering a fresh alternative to the ordinary fast food restaurant.
In Shelbyville, Kentucky at the age of 66 Colonel Sanders created one of the biggest fast food chains in the world. “Pride in his product, high standers, and brilliant marketing help to establish him as an innovator in the fast food industry.” (Col). By 1960, there were 400 Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants. Then by 1963, Colonel Sanders made over 300,000 dollars. It was a sad day for Kentucky Fried Chicken on December 16 1980 because the great Harland David Sanders Died. Even after his death, his legacy went on. In 1996, Kentucky Fried Chicken had over 5000 restaurants not over seas and 4500 over sea. “Raised in poverty, Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Harland Sanders—better known as Colonel Sanders—achieved extraordinary success at an age when most people choose to retire.”
This case study revolves around Starbucks ability to launch an aggressive expansion in China, a coffee frontier steeped in nearly 5,000 years of tea, Starbucks location-scouting skills and marketing savvy will be put to the test. This case study involves three questions: 1) Should Starbucks continue its expansion in China? 2) Will the Chinese be persuaded to drink coffee instead of tea after 5000 years of no consumption of coffee? 3) Will Starbucks current marketing plan work in China without advertising?
McDonald’s is one of the popular fast food chains in Hong Kong and the success of McDonald’s is due to it is able to create a homogeneous “global” culture that suit to the demands of a capitalist world. In Hong Kong, Time is money thus McDonald’s strategy is consistently fit to the fast food industry. The company has both economic strategy targeting at customer globally and locally.
BR was sold to Delta Foods in 1996 for US $2 billion. At this time, it was one of the largest fast-food chains in the world generating sales of US $6.8 billion. DF purchase of BR brought in a new cultural paradigm. DF is an individualistic, aggressive growth company with brands they believe are strong enough to support entry into new overseas markets without the need for local partnership. The DF strategy is one of direct acquisition and JV’s were not part of their strong suit. DF strategic implementation is based on hiring local managers directly or transferring seasoned managers from their soft drink and snack food divisions. The DF disdain for JVs is clearly reflected by their participation in only those JVs where local partnering was mandatory (e.g. China) to overcome regulatory barriers to entry. JVs had been the predominant strategy for BR which was unlike the DF outlook. Terralumen’s strategy was misaligned and out of sync with the DF strategy. This was unlike the complementarity that existed with BR’s strategy. This misalignment began to affect the JV relationship that had worked well with BR in the initial years. The failure of Terralumen and DF to recognize this fundamental cultural difference between their operational strategy styles i.e. Individualistic and Collectivism leads to their inability to proactively create steps for better alignment in the early period after acquisition, creating uncertainties and difficulties for both corporations. There is a lack of communication and virtually absence of trust between two new partners. DF appeared to be flexing its muscles in the relationship and using a more masculine approach compared to Terralumen’s more feminine approach. Both the corporations are strategically involved in a complex situation where they appear reluctant to address the issues at stake and move ahead together. The DF strategy of
"Studying McDonald's ABroad: Overseas Branches Merge Regional Preferences, Corporate Directives." Editorial. Nations Restaurant News 11 Nov. 2005: n. pag. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 5 Mar. 2013.
The purpose of this paper is to introduce you to the fast food industry, how it is everywhere in the United States and increasingly spreading globally. The majority of the fast food restaurants in the United States are dominated by hamburger fast food restaurants. Amongst the burger segment, McDonald’s is the number one leader in the burger industry, followed by Burger King, and Wendy’s respectively (Oches, 2011).
This particular case is about the implementation of the popular fast-food chain, Burger King, into the Japanese market. Despite its’ strong market position in other countries, Burger King has some difficulties to face within the Japanese market. In this report, my team and I will analyze Burger King’s current situation and problems and suggest alternatives.
Fierce and growing competition – big fast food companies like Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken are constantly competing with McDonalds for customers and trying to take the spot as the top fast food chain.
Burger King delivers value to their customers through their products, prices, and place and promotion strategies - (“BK doesn’t just promise value, they actually deliver value”). Burger king has been in existence for 60 years and is growing rapidly in many other countries. Burger King delivers quality, great tasting food which satisfies ones need or wants and captures the value of customers even before the first purchase is made. Burger King has products very unique from other competitors such as KFC and McDonalds. The difference is that Burger King does not limit their customers in terms of what they eat. For example, when I spoke to a customer also big fan of Burger King, he mentioned that the sauces are left public for the customer to decide on which sauce to have rather than giving the customer one kind of sauce such as McDonalds and KFC. The cold beverage is also self-help service in which customers can help themselves to a bottomless drink. This way the customer feels free to choose what satisfies the need or want.
... conclusion, to compete with the intense competition in today’s fast-food market, KFC China differentiates the company by being innovative. Three significant innovative strategies are localizing the menu, understanding the Chinese culture, and hiring local management. KFC demonstrates that one size fits all approach in the global market does not always work. Many typical Western approach to foreign expansion is to deliver the same products or services as their original establishment. For instance, Domino’s Pizza, an American restaurant chain, nearly failed in Australia due to the underestimation of the need to adapt their offerings to the local tastes. KFC China offers important lessons for global firms. It is essential to know that to what extend the company should keep the existing business model in emerging markets and to what extend it should be thrown away.
It will provide entrepreneurs with a competitive edge that will prove invaluable in helping them seek the opportunity in this unexplored area of business. Through this research project one can study the opportunities and potential for Fast Food Restaurant Services in India. Since not too much of research is carried on in this area in India, there is a huge scope for this market and it could be useful for any budding entrepreneur who is interested in this industry.
By choosing to expand into markets later than other fast food restaurants Burger King hopes to avoid the problems of developing infrastructure and establishing a market base. For instance, by following McDonalds into Brazil, Burger King avoided the need to develop the infrastructure and mark...
CHANGING PREFRECE depended vastly on the fast food manus. For example we can mention about SALAD. Now salad was never considered as a part of fast food menu. But with the change of taste and preference, fast food chains like Windy, Taco Bell, and McDonald have introduced SALAD into their menus. This preference is not stopping only with salads. In 2002, McDonald’s introduced great tasting new products including premium salads, n salads plus menu; Chicken McNuggets made with white meat; Fish McDippers; Chicken Selects; and new breakfast offerings like the McGriddle sandwiches. Here as a fast food chain, McDonald did not have to introduce new dishes in their menus but with the impression and image in the market analysis, of increasing demand and chan...