“Dude, KFC?? I told you I wanted Chinese breakfast! And it’s not even eleven, are they even open?”
“Just wait,” I said to Gary. “Once you get inside you’ll see why we’re here.” I had met Gary a couple of months ago when the new semester began and had taken an interest in him, mainly due to his inquisitive doofyness. Gary is really interested in Chinese culture and as I’ve been here for a few years, he asked me to take him on a Chinese food tour of the city. Never one to miss out on a free meal (or three), I took him up on it, but decided to give it a Western twist. Instead of the normal baozi breakfast, I had brought him to the KFC at the bottom of Qingdao Lu just near Ellen’s to begin our tour.
Walking up the steps, I take the opportunity to explain my rationale. “So you’ve had Chinese food in America, right?”
“Yeah man, I love General Tso’s chicken!”
“Great, unfortunately that’s not a thing here. General Tso’s Chicken is a North American ‘Chinese’ dish whose namesake is believed to be Zuo Zongtang, a Qing Dynasty General who died in 1885 and has absolutely no connection to that dish. Kung Pao Chicken, on the other hand, has real Chinese roots in gong bao ji ding. But don’t hold out for fortune cookies. Chinese people have never heard, much less seen, these things. With that in mind, I’ve decided to bring you here and show you the Sinicized side of Western restaurants. So here we are, at what I believe to be the greatest example of localization of foreign foods in China. I give you, the Colonel!’
With a grand gesture, I burst the doors into the restaurant open wide…and quickly underwhelm my guest by the ordinariness of the inside. “Trust me, the breakfast food gets weird.”
Perusing the menu, I could tell by Gary’s face that he was starting to understand. “What is this stuff? It’s super cheap, which is great, but a corn chicken burger with ketchup and soy milk? Fried breadstick with rice soup? Or a fried bread stick inside an egg wrap? Do people normally eat this?”
“First, its rice porridge, or congee. Second, KFC has a long and storied history here in China. In 1987, KFC opened the first Western fast food store in China, in Beijing to be exact, as a joint venture. They hired managers from other Asian countries instead of bringing over American managers which led to a lot of early success. While being here early was a great advantage, they had the problem of having virtually no supply chain. By building its own from the ground up, KFC was able to ensure high quality standards from the beginning.
In the Middle Kingdom, KFC has done a great job localizing their products.
Since adding fried breadsticks, or youtiao, in 2008, KFC has added rice, congee, egg custard tarts, and even a tree fungus salad, hence the unrecognizable menu.’
“And they open at 6:00 AM? Man, this is not the KFC I’m used to. Well, order me one of those egg sandwiches with a congee and youtiao, that looks like just the right mix of East and West.” ‘With or without mayo? The Chinese customers are big fans of shala jiang.’
“Doesn’t shala jiang mean salad dressing?”
“Mayonnaise has a couple names. One is shala jiang, or salad dressing, and another is danhuang jiang, or egg yolk sauce. It’s become a very popular condiment and you can expect to find it on veggie and fruit salads, pizza, and breakfast sandwiches. It’s just one of the many foods that found its way to China, just not the way we’re used to it.”
As we had gotten a late start and it was already early afternoon, I decided to show him how some Western companies were adapting their marketing techniques to China.
“I’ve been to McDonald’s before and after seeing KFC this morning, its definitely not THAT different. What have you got to show me here?” Gary asked me.
“Well, it’s after lunch but still too early for dinner, so that makes it the perfect time for high tea. It probably doesn’t surprise you that McDonald’s has tea, this is China after all, but I wanted to show you something. You’ve got WeChat, yea? Of course you do, almost everyone in China has WeChat. Well, McDonald’s uses WeChat to send out coupons to customers and I’ve got a discount for tea which I can only use during the afternoon. On top of that, I can pay with WeChat. As you’ve probably noticed there is also no drive-thru service like in America here. But they do have 24-hour delivery, which can get dangerous after a late night out.”
“Paying with WeChat, 24-hour delivery…how did I not know about this?”
Heading out the door, I said to Gary, ‘Our next location is in the heart of Xinjiekou, the luxurious dream destination of any young Chinese man intent on impressing his date…’ “Finally, some real GOOD food!” Gary interrupts before I can complete my sentence. With a smirk I say, ‘…Pizza Hut!’
After walking in the door, being greeted by beautiful bowing hostesses, and then taken to our seat, I could see the look on his face turn from one of disappointment to one of intrigue.
“This isn’t Pizza Hut…” Gary exclaimed. “There’s no way this is a Pizza Hut, and if that really IS the name, then it’s they are committing copyright infringement. This place is gorgeous inside! The decorations, the service, the tables…this is like a real, upscale restaurant. The Pizza Hut in my hometown in the States is a dirty, old red-roofed building with pizza and breadsticks…NOTHING like this!”
“Yep, this place is pretty different. Take a look at the menu, too, dude. You ever have corn on your pizza? What about snails? Would you fancy some shrimp croquettes or escargot?” I said with a laugh.
“I’m literally looking at a steak, spaghetti and broccoli dish. It’s not Chinese food but we are in PIZZA HUT…what is this?? Ok, I was expecting some fried rice dishes, but crab meat and calamari? And what are these huge globs of cheese in the pizza crust? I know about cheesy crust, but this is a whole new level!” Gary said as his eyes almost popped out of his head.
“You can add some salmon sashimi to your order if you want. And top it all off with some green tea cheese cake.
In China, Pizza Hut has rebranded itself as an upper-middle class dining establishment.
While Pizza Hut does a lot of delivery pizza in the States, here in China it’s a very brightly colored restaurant with an incredibly diverse menu, making it quite the dining experience when going to one. The menu does have a couple pages of pizza, but compared to the West, pizza is not the main attraction. There is so much variety in the choices of food, its hard to believe they are the same company.”
“Well I am sure glad you brought me here, I wanted to go out and spend the day eating Chinese food but this has been quite the experience. It’s been really interesting seeing how brands localize their food based on the country they are in. I bet if I had a Coke it would taste different here than in another country.”
“The day isn’t over yet, we have one more place left to visit. Its time for dessert and I’m craving a Blizzard.”
“I seriously hope that means were going to Dairy Queen.”
“That it does! And luckily they have one at Exit 8 in Xinjiekou, so we…uhh, you just need pay the bill and we can get going. There are a few special flavors of ice cream I would like to introduce you to.”
After arriving at Dairy Queen, ordering and waiting in line for our ice cream, Gary takes it upon himself to comment on the different varieties of flavors.
“Wasabi, green tea, red bean. Man, what is with these flavors? Honestly I can understand the different tastes and stuff but green tea ice cream? Really? I have a hard enough time drinking that stuff I can’t imagine eating that kind of ice cream. Like that girl in front of us just ordered a large green tea Blizzard, how can she eat that?”
Without warning, the girl in front of us whips her head around and in perfect, unaccented English lays into Gary. “You know, I really like this flavor, its really popular in China and many people enjoy eating it. I’m not complaining about your order, which, by the way, was a MOCHA Blizzard.”
Gary turned bright red and mumbled some kind of an apology. “You never know who can speak English around you, be careful what you say,” I point out.
“Eh, yea, this is awkward…”
“Don’t sweat it…grab your mocha blizzard, take a seat and enjoy. We’ve had a long day eating the best Chinese food American fast food chains can make. What did you think?” “Weird, wonderful, delicious, and humbling,” Gary muttered through mouthfuls of ice cream.
“It’s pretty amazing the way that restaurants localize their food and the lengths they go to in different countries. Some restaurants use different marketing strategies, some really embrace the local culture and tastes when creating the menu while others completely re-brand themselves for China.
No matter which approach the company takes, localization is key when entering a new market.”
This article was first published in The Nanjinger Magazine, May 2015 Issue. If you would like to read the whole magazine, please follow this link.
