As sub-Saharan African countries develop stronger and sturdier economies, the rise of income and increase in middle-class consumers have interested many fast food companies. This in turn has caused the large companies to start opening up fast food joints such as KFC and Domino’s in Africa, vying and competeing the attention of the westernized middle-class of Africa.
This surge in the investment of the African fast food market is a very positive thing, despite the fact that some believe it would westernize their culture too much, making them a copy of America. The efforts to incorporate local tastes would not be lost on the target audience, and the opening stores would mean that more local jobs would be available, helping the poorer population by providing jobs that would have higher safety and sanitation standards than other available jobs. While presently 50% of the sub-Saharan African population are living below the poverty line, this number is expected to lower as the economy continues to grow. More fast food joints will be opened as the amount of middle-class consumers grow, meaning more jobs that will help to draw even more people out of poverty. Though the idea of business ethnics may be brought in due to how this may be interpreted as taking advantage of the poor, it is far-fetched at least. Those in poverty would benefit from being paid workers of a large company, and the company themselves all have brand reputation to maintain, that is, forcing people to work under standards that would be considered unjust would quickly reach media.
Are fast food restaurants the symbol of a westernizing country? Or just a symbol of wealth? Regardless, the investments of large fast food joints would not only serve to sate the hunger of an emerging class of citizens, but also aid in bringing more people out of the poverty by increasing the number of jobs available.