With the growing amount of competition in the Chinese fast-food industry, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is is struggling to keep its competitive edge. Fried chicken can easily be found at the nearby street stand in China, but what keeps the Chinese coming back for KFC is the fact that it’s a Western fast food chain. Therefore, if KFC has had such huge success in accessing the minds of Chinese consumers, what is causing its decline in sales over the past four quarters? Part of the trouble for KFC now is the entrance of other Western fast food chains, such as Pizza Hut and Chinese fast food brands as well, Dicos and Hua Lai Shi. In response to the competition, KFC started offering Chinese dishes such as chili black fungus and fishball soup. However, this defeats the purpose of why customers even visit KFC in the first place- to get a foreign and differentiated experience.
image credit: china.org
Another eminent issue is the discovery of KFC using chicken that had been fed with unacceptably excessive amounts of antibiotics to increase growth rates. Since the authenticity of many Chinese products is already questionable, such as revelations of melamine in baby formula and the use of cardboard to make meat, Customers visit KFC because they trust that American companies will have high levels of sanitation and they would feel more comfortable consuming chicken from a North American company with standards than off a street vendor.
For KFC to stabilize its brand, it’s important that it retains its Westernized experience for consumers and that restaurants maintain quality that’s on par with their American counterparts.