The West meets the East

American fast food have entered the Chinese market since a decade ago. Since then, they have been trying to adapt to the consumers in China. Every other corner on the street in Shanghai, you will be greeted by McDonalds, KFC, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Subway and many more American brand shops. They all have striven to adjust to the local taste.

While I was in Shanghai, I observed a few things about these American shops in China.

In KFC, although they have the main dishes like how they were being served in the United States, there are many other new and exotic dishes which cater to the Chinese. The KFC here offer a few traditional dishes alongside with the familiar Western menu items such as porridge, egg tarts, mushrooms, preserved egg and many other. Furthermore, certain American dishes are being changed such as instead of coleslaw, you get to order a bowl of vegetables such as bamboo shoots or lotus root. Same goes to McDonald's where you have a menu that suits the local tastes. Another thing is that in the States, you have to clear your own trays, however in China, a server will come up to clear your own trays. Another big difference is the portion size. Here in China, you have much smaller portion size to cater to the local Chinese whereas in America, the portion size are much bigger. Pizza Hut is considered a restaurant here in China. Instead of the fast food chain where we get a 'to go' back in America, customers actually dine-in in Pizza Hut where waiters and waitresses serve you. Instead of the typical drinks sold in the US, Starbucks, on the other hand, introduced green tea flavored drinks that appeal to the local taste. Starbucks promoted dine-in services too for the Chinese market.

Overall those companies which are successful in the Chinese market adapted its business specifically for the Chinese, rather than trying to bring everything that worked in America into China. These companies understood that the value proposition it was offering Chinese was different than in the US. Therefore, they adapted their business to fit China better than other companies.