There has been wide interest in an item we ran last week on McDonald's mainland China expansion plans. The company has given us a special statement. For starters, or maybe even for dinner, it says the most popular McDonald's products in Beijing and all over China are . . . chicken products like nuggets and chicken burgers.
As we said last week, the fast-food chain intends opening more than 100 stores each year in China, despite cutting back operations elsewhere.
Here's a bit of the statement, which should be of particular interest to marketers. 'McDonald's continues to be extremely excited with the potential of the China market. We are confident that the strong government will continue to build on the past successes.'
Supporting its argument that McDonald's contributes to China's economic growth, the company said it already employed 40,000 people in China and would add about 10,000 more for every 100 new outlets.
McDonald's noted some differences between Hong Kong and mainland China - for example, mainland customers visit less frequently than their SAR counterparts.
Ale and hearty: Reader Tom Marrin has identified one of the world's most interesting McDonald's outlets: the one at Fenwick Pier in Wan Chai. Tom warned us he had not checked it out personally, but his information is no urban myth: the McDonald's at Fenwick Pier is one of just a few in the world which sell beer, an extremely popular product with seafaring customers.