/ world today news/ Recently, the global coffee giant Starbucks opened its second store in the series related to intangible cultural heritage in Shanghai’s Shangyu district. The cafe is located in one of the best-preserved buildings in the city with characteristic features of the Shakumen architectural style, which combines Western and Chinese elements and first appeared in 1860. When you enter the store, you first see 10 large handmade “coffee-flowers” decorated with delicate red berries. They are specially made by hand in neighboring Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.
The cafe also features exquisitely embroidered qipao dresses from Shanghai, silverware from Huqing, Yunnan Province, and tableware from Honghe, Yunnan. The location is one of 1,000 Starbucks stores in Shanghai. The company, which has a total of 6,000 stores in China, plans by 2025. to increase the number of its branches in 300 cities across China by 50% to 9,000.
Starbucks’ goal is to open one store in China every 9 hours over the next three years. Meanwhile, the Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons also plans to expand rapidly in China – opening a new coffee shop every 12 hours. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign catering companies continue to expand in China in terms of building supply centers and developing digitalization. These companies cooperate with Chinese partners in spreading Chinese culture and achieving China’s green goals. At the Shanghai International Import Expo in November, a mobile restaurant car from fast food chain KFC has been a major participant in the exhibition hall for the fifth year. Not only that, but the very foods offered there are made directly on the spot and keep it fresh for the visitors of the expo.
After opening his first store in China before 1987. in the Qianmen District, Beijing, KFC has opened 8,600 stores nationwide. That year, it opened 500 new stores across the country. Joey Watt, China CEO of Yum, the parent company that runs KFC and Pizza Hut, said at the International Import Expo that as the first foreign food chain to be present in China, Yum was fortunate to experience the period of Chinese reforms and opening up, which in the last 35 years has given enormous opportunities for their development in this large market.
Yum for China has 12,409 restaurants in 1,700 Chinese cities. The company plans to expand with another 1,000 to 1,200 stores in China by the end of this year. During the pandemic, the rapid development of digitalization and take-out services helped the company cope with the challenges it faced. KFC and Pizza Hut have a joint “members club” program that already has more than 400 million users, and digital orders account for more than 91% of both brands’ revenue. Yum for China plans to invest 1 billion in digital infrastructure over the next five years. The company’s AI system not only allows couriers to deliver products to business districts, but also allows employees across the country to work flexible hours.
By the third quarter of this year, KFC and Pizza Hut’s takeout services accounted for 37% and 41% of their total revenue respectively, with a growing number of consumers, especially the younger generation, looking for the convenience of ready meals during the pandemic. In 2020 Yum for China launches sale of pre-prepared meals.
Within two years, with its new products – steaks, fried rice, chicken soup as well as Chinese microwave dumplings, coffee and snacks, KFC has attracted countless consumers. In the second quarter of this year, the sales of this kind of products reached 200 million yuan, which is more than double compared to the same period last year.
In July, Yum China will build a supply chain management center in Jiading District, Shanghai. This will be his biggest investment project in “undeveloped terrain” to date. The 61,000 square meter facility will be built by 2024. It will serve as the headquarters of operations for the company’s supply chains.
Joey Watt, Yum’s CEO for China, said: “Our world-class supply chain is one of our key capabilities that has helped us mitigate the disruptions brought by COVID-19. As our supply chain capabilities grow stronger, we believe the center will better support more stores, sales channels and products, thereby helping to realize long-term growth.”
In December, luxury brand Louis Vuitton opened The Hall restaurant in Chengdu, Sichuan province. This is her third restaurant in the world, the other two are in Paris and Tokyo.
Along with this, New York’s Wolfgang’s Steakhouse opened a branch in Shanghai, which is its sixth branch in mainland China. In the past three years, while expanding his business, Peter Zweiner, owner of Wolfgang’s Steakhouse, has gone to China several times to check out his stores. He has visited each of the chain’s 35 stores worldwide to ensure the maintenance of their service level and the optimization of processes.
“China is developing fast. We are opening stores in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Hangzhou. We want to open stores in all major cities in China,” he said, adding that in addition to the food provided in restaurants, he had to think about how to bring food to consumers in their homes. One of its solutions is a presence in the takeaway service market.
“It’s hard for fancy restaurants to deliver takeout. You have to ensure that everything is packed well and you have to rely on couriers to deliver the food quickly and avoid any accidents that happen during transport,” he said.
In addition to delivering meals, Wolfgang’s Steakhouse in Beijing also uses a mobile kitchen trailer to sell their products throughout the city. With it, the restaurant can participate in a number of exhibitions or just regular weekend fairs. He also plans to introduce the mobile kitchen in cities where the company does not yet have restaurants.
“The company’s business also includes products such as wine and whiskey, as they are the main drinks with which beef steak is consumed.” Zweiner said Chinese consumers have a fairly good knowledge of wine and extremely good taste.
The company’s new branch in Shanghai will be opened in April next year. Zweiner is also ready to expand its business in Chengdu, Suzhou, Nanjing and other cities. According to him, the pandemic will not change his plan in China. “People have to eat, sooner or later this virus will go away!”
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