A Burger King outlet at Beijing International Airport
The company, which has 25 outlets in the country, officially opened its first restaurant in downtown Beijing this week in Joy City in the Xidan area.
John Chidsey, chairman and chief executive of Burger King Holdings (BKC), who was in Beijing for the opening of what was the company’s 12,000th restaurant worldwide, said the group was aiming for fast growth.
“We intend to be on a similar scale to our competitors. Certainly a heck of a lot bigger than we are today, ” he said.
Burger King was a relative late entrant to China, not opening its first store until 2005.
KFC, owned by Yum!, which first came to China in 1987, has 2,000 outlets and McDonald’s, having made its debut here in 1992, recently celebrated its 1,000th store opening.
There was speculation earlier this year that McDonald’s had slowed down its expansion in China as a result of the economic downturn.
Chidsey said because Burger King was starting from a low base it had major scope for expansion regardless of economic conditions.
“When you are ahead in the market, any downturn in sales is going to hurt you very bad. If we were offered 10 suitable sites we would take them,” he said.
BKC’s global store development program has accelerated since the company, founded in 1954, was bought by a private equity concern in 2003 and then floated on the New York Stock Exchange in 2006.
Seventeen of the company’s current 25 China stores are company-owned so as to establish a Burger King business model for China but it intends to grow in future by finding franchise partners. – read more at SINA.com…
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December 3rd, 2009 at 11:01 pm
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