KFC opens 200 outlets in China

KFC opens 200 outlets in China

BEIJING: U.S.-based fast food giant Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) opened more than 200 outlets in China last year, accounting for one-fifth of the restaurants it opened globally, state press said Tuesday.

Tricon Global Restaurants Inc., which owns KFC, now has more than 800 KFC outlets in the world's most populous country, company president David Novak said, according to the Xinhua news agency.

KFC has spread to 200 Chinese cities in the 15 years since first opening its doors.

The company also runs more than 100 Pizza Hut outlets in China.

Novak said Tricon was also exploring the possibility of making Chinese fast food, saying it had great market potential.

This month the company began serving a new dish modeled after the famed Beijing roast duck in its KFC restaurants in China. Like the centuries-old delicacy, the new dish, the "chicken roll of old Beijing", is rolled in a thin pancake with shallots and crisp cucumber pieces. But instead of using duck meat it contains fried chicken.

Tricon is one of the world's largest food and restaurant groups with 32,500 chain restaurants operating in more than 100 countries. -- AFP