Showing posts with label McDonald. Show all posts
Showing posts with label McDonald. Show all posts

Friday, August 22, 2014

Fast food chains struggle for the Chinese customer - Ben Cavender

Ben Cavender
Ben Cavender
When US fast food chains entered the China market, they mostly kept rigorously to their American diet. But now they are struggling to gain share of the US$100 billion market by experimenting frantically with tastes and flavors, tells retail analyst Ben Cavender in CNNMoney.

CNN Money:
There's just one problem: double cheeseburgers and pepperoni pizzas aren't exactly typical Chinese cuisine. As a result, the chains are constantly looking for ways to appeal to the local population, while keeping signature items on the menu.
"The trick is, they want to keep as much of their DNA as possible in terms of having core menu items that are recognizable in any market, but also figuring out what the hero products for the specific market are going to be," said Ben Cavender of China Market Research.
McDonald's in Hong Kong, for example, serves noodles, fresh corn and lychee punch. KFC offers rice with its fried chicken meals....
 
Pizza Hut offers lobster bisque and mussels stewed in white wine. The restaurant is a popular spot for teenagers to spend a romantic evening.
 
These are "nicely-decorated sit down restaurants," Cavender said. "In most cases, people going tend to be white collar -- comparatively speaking, these restaurants are still quite expensive compared to a street corner noodle shop."
More in CNN Money.

Ben Cavender is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

Are you interested in more stories by Ben Cavender? Do check out this regularly updated list.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

The struggle of food companies to stay clean - Ben Cavender

Ben Cavender
+Benjamin Cavender 
A large number of retailers and restaurants from 7-Eleven to Starbucks to McDonald´s had to cut ties with their meat supplier in Shanghai, as authorities forced to close its operation. Retail analyst Ben Cavender explains in the WSJ what it takes to keep supply chains clean.

Ben Cavender is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.

Are you interested in more experts on risk management at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out our recently updated list.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

McDonald´s and Yum hit by new meat scandal - Ben Cavender

Ben Cavender
+Benjamin Cavender 
An all-American meat scandal has hit Shanghai, as McDonald´s and Yum´s KFC banned their Chicago-owned supplier after authorities found out it used out-dated meat. Retail analyst Ben Cavender expects a long-term damage to both restaurant chains, he tells in the China Daily.

The China Daily:
Ben Cavender, an analyst at Shanghai-based China Market Research, said the new allegation is going to have a lasting impact on both brands despite their responses to make consumers feel better.
But Yum will take more of a hit due to food safety problems in the past, which indicates the company is less likely to control its suppliers well, he said.
Even if they were only indirectly responsible, in the eyes of consumers their brands are going to be hurt, said Cavender.
The allegations have once again reminded consumers of recent food scandals including baby formula laced with melamine and fox DNA found in donkey meat.
"In China, food safety concerns are so strong, even more than other markets," he said.
More in the China Daily.

Ben Cavender is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

Risk management is paramount in China. Are you interested in more experts on risk management at the China Speakers Bureau? Do have a look at our recently updated list. 

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

The KFC, McDonald's shoot-out - Ben Cavender

Ben Cavender
Ben Cavender
Both KFC and McDonald's have been struggling to keep market share in China by expanding fast. Localizing has become a key word,  but sometimes at the expense of quality, says business analyst Ben Cavender in AdAge.

AdAge:
The U.S. giants have also faced headwinds from questions over their chicken supply, avian flu fears and a slowdown in economic growth. McDonald's China comparable store sales were down 3.6 % in 2013 from 2012. KFC is also revamping its China offering, with an updated menu and much-needed store renovations.
"One of the problems KFC had is they've expanded so quickly they haven't done a good job of cleaning up and modernizing stores, whereas McDonald's has been very aggressive about doing that," said Ben Cavender, principal at China Market Research Group. "We're starting to see a shift where consumers are saying they actually like the McDonald's dining experience, more than at KFC."
McDonald's is also getting more aggressive about store openings: Last year it debuted 275 China locations and this year it plans 300.
More in AdAge.

Ben Cavender is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

Are you a media representative and do you want to talk to one of our speakers? Do drop us a line.
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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Why Big Macs and KFC are losing out in China - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein
+Shaun Rein 
Ten years ago McDonald's was a winner in China, but with KFC the big macs are losing out. Retail analyst Shaun Rein explains to Reuters that Chinese consumers turn to domestic chains, who supply more to the aspirations of their customers.


Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

China Weekly Hangout

How successful can president Xi Jinping be in rooting out corruption, the +China Weekly Hangout is going to ask on Thursday 31 October. How committed is the Xi/Li team to real change? You can read our announcement here, or register for the event here. 

Is China going to collapse under the burden of its debts? Yes, if they do not play their cards rights, tells Sara Hsu, leading expert on shadow banking in China at the +China Weekly Hangout  on August 30. Questions are asked by +Fons Tuinstra of the China Speakers Bureau.
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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Searching for China's fast food chains - Paul French

Paul French
Paul French
Foreign fast food chains like McDonalds and KFC are wildly popular in China, but domestic chains failed to have a similar success. Retail analyst Paul French explores in Foreign Policy why his favorite Real Kung Fu restaurant has only a few hundred outlets, while foreign competition has many thousands.

Paul French:
My Shanghai Real Kung Fu is still around -- even flourishing. The once-dirty floors are now mopped every hour; the dog-eared paper menus have given way to illuminated menu boards that hover over high-tech registers manned by smiling, uniformed employees who move almost robotically from counter to kitchen and back. Real Kung Fu promises your entire meal within 60 seconds of ordering or your money back, and I have yet to claim a refund for my favorite dish, the really rather good chicken-and-mushroom rice. They've learned a few tricks. 
The same can be said of other vastly improved and emerging local fast-food places, such as Mandefu and Baijila, small-scale Chinese chains doing slightly Westernized variants of local favorites, complete with knockoff Western logos -- Mandefu's red and yellow sign front owes more than a bit to McDonald's palette, while Baijila taunts KFC with a slightly feminine Colonel Sanders
But China's up-and-comers, its aspiring middle class, prefer the status of the real thing. McDonald's and KFC are still largely the preserve of the bai ling and young families on the make, who go for a little taste of things foreign, and a sign perhaps that they really are moving up. As Warren Liu, a former KFC senior executive, has written, when the chain's first restaurant opened just outside Tiananmen Square back in 1987, "Customers were attracted to KFC's Chinese brand name; its American roots; its likeable, grayish, beard-bearing brand spokesperson -- Colonel Sanders; the unique restaurant décor; the new way of ordering food; the bright red and blue colors of the brand logo; the American music broadcast inside the restaurant; and, as an added bonus, a very clean toilet!" That's mostly all still true... 
The truth is: The Chinese people are both aspirational and eminently sensible when it comes to partaking of the benefits of global capitalism. Great cars come from Germany, luxury fashion from France and Italy, and fast food from America. And the hundreds of millions who make up China's new middle class want the best of everything: Audi cruisers, Gucci purses -- and, it would seem, KFC's Dragon Twister.
More in Foreign Policy.

Paul French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

China Weekly Hangout

Not all foreign firm are doing well in China. The +China Weekly Hangout discussed on January 30 why foreign companies fail in China, with as panelist +Richard Brubaker of Collective Responsibility and +Andrew Hupert, expert on conflict management in China. Moderation: +Fons Tuinstra of the China Speakers Bureau. Including references to Apple, Mediamarkt, Foxconn and many others.

The upcoming cyber war is the subject of the +China Weekly Hangout on Thursday 27 June. The revelations by Edward Snowden showed that the US is preparing a military shake-out, as both China, Russia and other countries are building up their cyber war capacities too. Joining us are former security consultant +Mathew Hoover and media en communication lecturer +Paul Fox of the Hong Kong University. Moderation by +Fons Tuinstra, president of the China Speakers Bureau.
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Monday, July 30, 2012

McDonald's healthy profile in China - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein
Obese Americans struggling with their health might find this odd, but McDonald's  is preferred by many Chinese consumers, because its fast food is perceived to be healthy, explains Shaun Rein in NPR. Healthy according to Chinese standards, that is.

 NPR:
That's because Chinese consumers trust American brands more than their own, says Shaun Rein, founder of China Market Research, who studies Chinese consumer behavior. Rein says that in China, McDonald's is seen as providing safe and wholesome food... 
"They wanted to use nice, healthy, looking food for the Chinese consumer because the Chinese are petrified of the food supply chain," Rein says. Rein reassures us that Chinese consumers know that much of the McDonald's menu is high in fat. And there's no denying that obesity is a growing problem in the China, as it is worldwide. But, "in a country that deals with food scandals seemingly on a daily basis, like melamine in milk, people are gravitating towards McDonald's and other Western fast food brands because they trust them as being healthy," said Rein.
More in NPR.

Shaun Rein  is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do fill in our speakers' request form.
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