Foreign catering brands grab bite of Chinese market

He likes the new products at the Beijing branch, but hopes that more-original items will be included on the menu.

"It's actually pretty upscale compared with some Taco Bell outlets I've seen. I like the fact that they have seating outside," Boyce said.

Liu Xiangheng, the founder of Hello Mart, said Taco Bell signed a deal for the location after Spring Festival and decoration work started at the branch in about May.

"The brand positioning of Taco Bell fits with Hello Mart, as many of the customers who live nearby have overseas backgrounds, and there are also many embassies in the area," Liu said.

He has noticed that long lines, which have been a rare sight since the onset of the pandemic, have formed since the branch opened.

Due to the outbreak, customer footprint at Hello Mart in February dropped to less than 5 percent of the normal level, and has only since recovered to about 65 percent.

In addition to Taco Bell, Liu is bringing a German restaurant, an outlet specializing in French cuisine, and a Malaysian eatery to Hello Mart. A beer garden with a night fair has also been launched.

Liu said a Starbucks Reserve outlet will open at Hello Mart at the end of this month.

Just 3 kilometers away, in the capital's Sanlitun area, another US catering brand, Shake Shack, has just opened its first branch in the city. Even though it rained heavily on opening day, long lines formed to sample the outlet's burgers.

Shake Shack opened its first China store in Hong Kong in May 2018 and launched in Shanghai in February last year.

The news website Jiemian quoted Lou Wei, general manager for Shake Shack from Maxim Group, which operates the brand in China, as saying that Shake Shack plans to open 55 branches on the mainland by 2030. "We will be in Shanghai and Beijing and then expand to other cities," Lou said.

Shake Shack aims to set up branches at locations with indoor and outdoor space. The brand targets customers in the 25 to 35 age group, but also focuses on connecting with local communities.

Lou said it will aim for more cooperation with local Chinese brands.

Due to the pandemic, Shake Shack launched ordering though the WeChat Mini program.

"We were not planning to go digital, as we are a new brand entering China. Self-ordering may reduce communication between our staff members and customers, and we want to interact more with our clients," Lou said.

Taco Bell and Shake Shack took more than a year to expand from Shanghai to Beijing, but Popeyes, a fried chicken fast food restaurant chain from the US, has had its foot firmly on the accelerator.

It opened its first China outlet in Shanghai on May 16, now has five branches in the city and will shortly open one in Beijing, according to Sami Siddiqui, Asia-Pacific president of Restaurant Business International Inc.

The company, one of the world's biggest specializing in fast food, owns the Popeyes, Tim Hortons and Burger King franchises.

Siddiqui thinks Shanghai is a strong market for Western brands. "Consumers in the city have shown they have the taste and affinity for Western fast food restaurants. It's a good place to launch before we expand to other cities," he said.

He added that preparations for the launch of Popeyes in China took nearly two years, and a lot of time was spent on creating a menu tailored for a Chinese clientele.

From roast chicken sandwiches to spicy chicken wings, the menu also features milk shakes, which are not served at any of Popeyes other outlets worldwide.

To cater to Chinese tastes, Popeyes has made minor reductions to salt content and added a little more spice to its food.

It aims to launch more than 1,500 restaurants in China, Siddiqui said.

RBI operates 27,000 restaurants worldwide, and about 1,500 of them are in China, according to Siddiqu.

"The important thing to look at is that the company is opening at a faster pace in China than any other market in the world," he said.