International Dairy Queen Inc, a US ice cream chain, will boost
its outlets in China by adding 500 stores in the next five years,
banking on the potential growth in ice cream consumption by an
increasingly affluent population.
The company, controlled by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway,
will open the additional restaurants and stands in the period
through franchising, said Chuck Mooty, its chief executive officer,
in Shanghai yesterday.
"We want to be part of the community and part of the people's
daily life here," said Mooty, who came to the city to celebrate the
opening of Dairy Queen's 100th restaurant in the country.
The new stores will be located in the 17 cities where it already
has a presence and in second-tier cities. Diversifying from its
current choice of shopping malls, the new shops will be sited on
street sides and near metro stations.
The new restaurants will enable China to be its third-largest
market after the United States and Canada.
China is still far behind the United States in ice cream
consumption, with an average of 1.2 kilograms per capita a year,
five percent of the Americans' level, according to 2005 statistics
provided by the company, which cited the figure to show the huge
potential of the market still to be tapped.
The company, which entered China in 1992 by opening the first
store in Beijing, has accelerated expansion since 2005. Its focus
in the past two years has been in east China, where it added 40
stores.
Its expansion has stiffened competition in the market.
Haagen-Dazs runs more than 60 stores in China, while local rivals
like Bright Food Group have also opened ice cream outlets.
(Shanghai Daily November 8, 2007)
