Picture: from flicker.com
Since the Hai Di Lao Hot Pot came to public in September 7th at Arcadia, Los Angeles, America, there always a long queue outside the shop. But it only got a score at 2.5 on Yelp.(Yelp,2013) It is not hard to find the reason—-Hai Di Lao didn’t acclimatized itself to the American Market.
Hai Di Lao’s biggest fault was it didn’t offer English severe. Even if this is a Chinese food restaurant, it’s weird that you cannot found any English words expect the signboard and most of the waitresses are Mandarin speakers. It is nearly impossible for a costumer who cannot speak Chinese to order food.
There is also some culture difference made this China’s most popular hot pot restaurant reaped such a low evaluation among Americans. One of Hai Di Lao’s characteristic is its meticulously severe, such as manicure and shoe shines for consumers who are waiting in the long lines. But in Americans eyes, those exclusive severe are neither inopportune nor insanitary.
Luckily, Hai Di Lao improved its severe in time and added English explanation on menus. There still have a lot of problem to be solved, but we can see that Hai Di Lao is trying its best to acclimatize itself to the American Market. This is a task which every transnational restaurant have to face and solve.
Resources:
- Jiaoyu Duan, 海底捞美国水土不服，只获2.5星差评http://finance.sina.com.cn/zl/international/20130927/091416868872.shtml
- Yelp, Haidilao Hot Pot http://www.yelp.com/biz/haidilao-hot-pot-arcadia