China: KFC

KFC at a Glance

As we were walking around, it was clear to see how much more popular KFC is in China and how much different the items they sell are there. KFC sells mainly “burgers” here which would be equivalent to a chicken sandwich as well as selling rice and fries to go along with the meal. The big thing here too is that KFC sells breakfast at 6 pm. Breakfast foods such as egg sandwiches, coffee, pastries, etc which is super uncommon if even heard of in the US.

From the map and numbers pulled from the Yum! Brands website, we knew that there were roughly 1,000 more KFC restaurants in China than the US, but we didn’t realize the difference 1,000 restaurants could make.Just about everywhere you look in China there is a KFC and if there is not an actual restaurant in sight, there’s a pretty good chance of signage pointing you to one being there.

These are just a few of the KFC restaurants that we came across while roaming the streets of downtown Shenyang, China. Not only can you find them on the streets, but they are also in just about all of the shopping malls that we visited. You can walk for 5 minutes and see at least 5 different KFC's on that walk. They are around every corner and in every unusual place you can think of.

Taking a Closer Look

We chose to local KFC that was near the college campus that we are going to as well as a shopping mall. We wanted a location that many people go and places that are pretty visible from anywhere. These two locations served as a place for us to continue our research ans see how consistency is not only with KFC in the United States but also within China.

KFC by Campus: Exterior

The exterior of the KFC in Shenyang, China is very clean-lined and modern and the branding is consistent with the current branding guidelines. The red used on the exterior looks very similar to updated, more modern KFC's in the States. This KFC uses dark brown as another accent color which give the appearance of the exterior an even further updated and high-end look. The sleekness of the facade is welcoming and very inviting.

The signage used is customized for their local audience and seems to be geared more towards children and the millennial generation. As you can see from the image, Kung Fu Panda is placed everywhere on the outside of KFC as well as on the inside. These cartoon characters are used to advertise the food and sell specific food items on the menu.

KFC by Campus: Interior

Once you enter the KFC, you immediately feel like you have enter a very nice, down to earth restaurant. The feeling inside of the restaurant looks like a super hip, ultra modern cafe. Once you walk past the counter, you do not feel like you are in a fast food restaurant at all.

There is so much seating available throughout the store and there are all types of seats to choose from; sofa like seating, bar stool at a high top table, and classic wood tables and wooden chairs. It is also very interesting to see just how clean and well kept everything is inside the restaurant is compared to how dirty the city is outside of the interior.

This KFC had such a homey and welcoming feel to it that you felt you were in a place you could really stay a while and get very comfortable. Aside from there being a lot of people sitting everywhere, the interior was very spacious and had a rather open floor plan. No red was really used besides on the initial menu. The colors that seemed to be used throughout were more so muted pastel yellows, oranges, and greens. Earth tones were also very commonly used for the chairs, wooden ceiling, and the tile floor.

It was amazing to see the consistency throughout the different KFC's all over Shenyang. You could walk into just about any KFC and feel like you have already been there before. The use of colors, the materials used, and the layout of the restaurant was all so similar. Unlike KFC in American, these restaurants all looked pretty much the same and looked like they all belonged to the same company.

Packaging

In order to keep our research consistent between the US and China, we planned to order a number 6 from each country, but there are no combo numbers in China. So, we ordered a Spicy Chicken Burger meal, which came with a 12oz drink, regular sized fries, and of course, the spicy chicken burger, which is what we call a chicken sandwich in the US.

The meal cost 19 Yuan, which equals roughly $3.25 in US money.

Not many of the items on the KFC China menu were similar to those in the States. You could still order your bucket of chicken and some mashed potatoes but other than that, there were so many differences. Although they did have popcorn chicken, you could also order shrimp and squid versions too.

There were also things like rice, corn salad, only chicken sandwiches and lots of different breakfast items to chose from. KFC China seemed to be a mix of a little bit of KFC and a whole lot of McDonald’s wrapped into one.

In addition to there being no combo meals, there were really no "KFC combo buckets" available like the ones in America. The Food and the menu set up at KFC was very similar to a meal that you would order at McDonald's or Burger King. They offered the smallest, dixie cup sized mashed potatoes, as well as unusual egg pastie dished that seem to sell out faster than they can be made.

KFC in China also serves breakfast much like what you would expect to see McDonald's selling for breakfast-egg/sausage sandwiches, coffee, yogurt-but also selling things that are super unusual for both places such as rice porridge (very common Chinese breakfast food), corn salad, and taro filled pies. Some other unusual items being sold were squid popcorn snacks, rice as a side dish, and many more.

Here are some other items that we got from KFC. The 6 little round pieces are actually sweet egg pastries. One of the Chinese students that took us to go eat, thought that these pastries were an American dessert because everything from KFC must come from America.  The “regular” mashed potatoes were also put into a serving dish the size of a dixie cup. A lot of differences and variations from KFC US to China.

You can also see that the initial packaging looks very retro and old-school compared to how modern and updated their restaurants look. The packaging of the drink and the burger holder look very similar to how the on KFC in Michigan's interior looks. There seems to be a bit of a clash between how the stores look and how the food they serve looks. Even though there are opposing design elements, all of the packaging we saw in the different KFC's we went to were all pretty much the same. Nothing varied too much and the look of the food stayed pretty consistent.

Uniforms

At almost all of the KFC's we went to, the employees were wearing purple uniforms with pink trim. The uniforms also included hats that looks somewhat like old-school flight attendant outfit. These uniforms are not consistent with KFC colors of the reds and blacks but they do have consistency with each other as all of the employees are wearing the same uniforms and hats. These "out-dated" uniforms also seem to go well with the retro feeling that the food packaging has. Although these uniforms do not go with the modern, classy look of the restaurant, they do fit well with the retro look of the food packaging.

The fact that all of these employees were wearing the same uniform made all of the restaurants we went into have a consistent and professional feeling. No one person looked out of place or looked like an eye sore and because eat KFC seemed to have the same uniforms, it was easy to spot who was a worker there and who could help you order food.

Conclusion

After looking and seeing all of the KFC's in China, it is easy to see that there are very obvious differences and few similarities between the two countries. For one, the food served in China is vastly different and the flavors and options are very different than anything that most Americans would even think of trying. Secondly, the way the KFC's in China appear on the interior looks much more updated and clean than many of the KFC's in America.

KFC's in China seem to be much more consistent than any KFC's in America and the branding from one restaurant to the nest seems to stay consistent and similar looking. Based on the photos and information that has been gathered, it is clear to see that KFC has some discrepancies in the branding of their restaurants. KFC China definitely does a better job of branding and keeping true to a set standard of what KFC should look like in China.