Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's, and Chinese Cinema

Abstract

A few years ago, a McDonald's opened up not far from my work unit, and no matter what the time of day whenever one passes this place and looks through the windows, one always sees a roiling mass of humanity. Lately, I discovered that a Kentucky Fried Chicken just opened for business not far from McDonald's, and like the latter, it presents a daily spectacle of roaring trade. Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald's are truly "immortal birds," at least for the present in China. Everyone has been saying for the past few years that running a restaurant is a difficult business, and that all restaurants are now facing a life-and-death ordeal. Come inflation or deflation, only Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald's are able to use every opportunity to expand their businesses, and the ranks of establishments under their banners are growing by the day. I once asked a friend in the trade what was the secret of Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald's success. His reply was that their success depended entirely on quality—quality of product and quality of service. He revealed that China was now one of the countries in the Asian region with the greatest number of Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald's branches, and that both had drawn up ambitious business plans. Following upon their successful occupation of the cities, their next objective was to advance upon rural townships and take over as big a share as possible of the Chinese food and beverage market. If this continues, the lebensraum of the indigenous Chinese food and beverage industry will become smaller and smaller.