A Dive into KFC’s Success in China: Is it just the food?
From rural counties to urban cities embodied with modern style architecture, people can always find the existence of a restaurant across any street. It appears to be everywhere no matter where you go in China. If you ask a random foreigner who has just landed in China and does not know much about KFC, he would definitely believe that KFC is a very popular local restaurant. Unexpectedly, one fact that stands out is that KFC actually originates from America. Many may notice that the cheap ingredients and fast-paced food production are the primary reasons that make KFC the most popular fast food chains in the world across many countries, which proves to be factual, but many may oversee a trend of westernization as one of the Chinese culture values behind the theme of KFC when it also represents, at last, an American restaurant. Back in the early 2000s, as China was still an underdeveloped country, the introduction of a westernized and American restaurant automatically positions itself as a top-notched competitor among all the other local Chinese restaurants.
While a large inflation of a country and potential price change may lead to differences of values in currency, is inflation the “culprit chief” of this successful translation? Ultimately, in the early 2000s, China had a much lower GDP per capita than America, so the value of the same object must be different in two countries undoubtedly. In addition, many have neglected the similarities between Chinese street food making and the food making process of the newly translated KFC. For Chinese street food style, there are all kinds of special food all over the country. The local specialties are delicious and colorful, and they linger. Although there are many different types of street food in China, all are delicate and can be produced within a couple of minutes; furthermore, Chinese street food is known for its use of ingredients, where only low cost ingredients are needed. For example, glutinous rice balls are a classic local snack in the Jiangnan area. The traditional breakfast of old Shanghai people can be seen in some stalls of Southern Chinese cities. By rolling the glutinous rice into a thin cake, sandwiching a fritter, and re-rolling it into a dumpling form, you have just successfully produced a glutinous rice ball in three minutes. Unlike how supermarkets and stores sell their products in designated areas, Chinese street food sellers only sell their products on random streets, so here, both elements of street food are necessary to satisfy a rushing consumer before the start of his busy day.
So, does KFC assemble the traits of Chinese street food at all? KFC’s meals can be produced within minutes as well. Due to the high demand of the meals, KFC utilizes machines to optimize the number of meals produced and minimize the consumption of time when making the meal. Additionally, according to USA Daily Restaurant, “in terms of ingredients, KFC uses chickens that have already been processed into desirable cuts to both shorten the time and lower the cost” (USA Daily Restaurant). Here, not only does KFC embody the essential traits of Chinese street food, but also consumers can find KFCs easily across any street no matter which city you live in. At 5am in the morning, when the first wave of midnight workers exhaustedly finish their work and walk mindlessly across the streets, KFC always opens for them; similarly, at 11pm, when the last wave of workers arrives, KFC becomes their optimal choice given the fast-paced food making and its low price. At this point, many may believe that a matching characteristic in food production represents the main reason for this successful translation, but when we analyze KFC and Chinese street food style from a cultural perspective, many may wonder why a plain fried chicken can take over the food market in China. Since both KFC and Chinese street food share numerous traits together, does the food “fried chicken” have its own implications on a cultural scale? Here, according to local Chinese sources, “although there are various ways of cooking chicken in Asia, frying a piece of chicken in deep oil rarely appears in any of the traditional Asian dishes”(Baidu). Then, why does “fried chicken” never fade away in the Chinese food market beginning from the 1980s to modern days?
Historically, in 1987, the first KFC opened in Beijing. During the first twenty years of the grand opening, the menu and price translated directly from American KFC. For example, according to Mashed, “back in the early 2000s, a chicken sandwich cost exactly one dollar without tax in America” (Mashed). At the same time, according to Baidu, “a KFC chicken sandwich in China costs roughly 6 to 7 yuan” (Baidu), which represents equal value in currency; however, many have neglected the fact that a monthly income for an average Chinese worker is roughly hundreds of yuan. By spending an average of twenty to thirty yuan on a regular KFC meal, an average Chinese worker would have to pay 30% of his monthly income; therefore, KFC meals in the early 2000s were considered to be luxury food items across the Chinese food market. As a result, in the eyes of a standard Chinese consumer, this “highly priced” American styled fast food restaurant resembles the traits of what luxury items should have, and the connection between westernized items and luxury, especially due to the assumption that higher price often leads to higher quality, is embedded in the Chinese cultural value; therefore, many argue that this successful translation of KFC is due to the preference of westernization, leading to further appreciation of many western trends in the Chinese culture as well, expanding beyond the field of food culture. While the idea of preferring western food and a trend of westernization may symbolize the success of KFC historically, does this trend still explain why KFC is popular in the modern era?
Many skeptics may argue that treating KFC as “higher quality” products only stays true twenty years ago because modern KFC meals have a relatively faster production time with affordable prices, and the enormous growth of KFC can be observed easily within the recent decade. I agree with these arguments; therefore, this unprecedented growth of a fast-food chain restaurant must be attributed to the way it operates. For instance, when we analyze the differences between the menus of KFC and other fast food restaurants in China such as Burger King, McDonalds, and Five Guys, only KFC has integrated Chinese street food into its menus; for example, normally, food such as fritters, dumplings, and porridge can only be served on random street corners. But, in KFC’s modern menu, there is a designated breakfast section that contains numerous types of Chinese street food, and these sections change everyday to appeal to more local customers. As a result, this fast food restaurant transitions into an environment that welcomes people of all ages to eat what they prefer.
Overall, what does this all mean? When we examine the cultural value of Chinese street food and the translated value of KFC from a global perspective, it appears to me that both the westernization and the addition of Chinese street food represent the major reasons why KFC successfully translates and integrates into the Chinese cultural values; however, when we analyze the food production itself, the traits closely related to each other, and these characteristics and similarities of food making will always stay the same. This raises the discussion of why people still prefer to eat western food given that the food is similar and familiar to the Chinese people. Isn’t KFC just a duplicate of Chinese street food? When we analyze Chinese history, from the end of Qing Dynasty to the end of WWII, China experienced cultural attacks from other countries, the Sino-Japanese war, for example; as such, according to baidu, “since Chinese culture was mainly absent at that time, any input of the western culture is deemed as superior: rich Chinese families prefer to immigrate to America, and many local residents participate in street gangs in which they are deeply influenced by bar culture as well” (Baidu) Ultimately, the idea of “westernization is superior” is instilled into an old generation of Chinese people. Therefore, when it comes to KFC, a look of Chinese history implies that this trend of westernization still continues in the early 2000s, but in the modern era, menu change and new integrations of Chinese culture are keys to KFC’s success.
https://www.mashed.com/289478/what-kfcs-menu-looked-like-the-year-you-were-born/
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1685795762526626148&wfr=spider&for=pc
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1700603243846559884&wfr=spider&for=pc
