Yum China

[RRY16]

I live in China, here are my thoughts....

KFC should continue to grow steadily, it's always packed. Chinese people don't want Western food, they want the Western level of service and supposed safety/cleanliness. So, apart from the original chicken (which nobody eats) the menu is completely different, with super spice, grease and MSG, even more than the USA.

Chinese people don't like Western food, and they care even less about Mexican food. If they update the Taco Bell menu with super spice/grease/MSG, then they are just competing in the same space as KFC, which is already built everywhere. "I want to eat some Mexican food today" said no Chinese person ever. For them, KFC and Taco Bell will be the same.

Pizza Hut... the market for overpriced, bad pizza is dying.... they slashed prices, and seems also slashed the staff, the service and cleanliness is going down the tubes. Now other Chinese or foreign brands are easily a better choice. On the cheap end, there is Saizeriya from Japan, growing like crazy, menu is literally 1/3 the price and food arrives in 5-10 minutes, instead of waiting 30 minutes at Pizza Hut. On the more expensive end, there are a lot of places popping up where you can get a much better $20 pizza than Pizza Hut.

I hear they like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, any ideas?

 

[vanzandt]

I hear they like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, any ideas?

These are much better: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kfc-new-pink-burger-buns_us_55cb4390e4b0f1cbf1e6d4fa

As per Chinese Pizza Huts not being clean.... (?)

 

[promagma]

As per Chinese Pizza Huts not being clean....

Yeah, I was typing too fast, the Pizza Huts are still clean and modern. But this is not special anymore, many other brands have caught up. The quality of service is definitely going down, they used to be overstaffed and really well trained, now understaffed and lazy (probably underpaid), which I think that correlates with having fewer customers. I have been to Pizza Huts in different cities, probably 100 times in the last 5 years.... there is a huge difference from location to location. Some locations, like in a trendy shopping mall in a big city, are still pretty busy. But like the Pizza Hut near my work, there are like 1 or 2 other people at lunchtime, and I have seen the same at Pizza Hut in smaller cities.