A Beijing-based company renowned for its roast duck has cracked a top-ten finish in the list of the 500 best catering performers for last year, the China Hotel Association revealed yesterday.
It was the only Chinese firm to make an impact among the front runners, which were almost all franchises of United States fast food giants such as Macdonald's and KFC.
The Beijing McDonald's Food Company came in first with an operational income of 836.43 million yuan (US$100.77 million) last year.
The take-away brands dominating the top-ten stores in major Chinese cities last year, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Duck specialists China Beijing Quanjude Group snuck in at seventh place after gaining 347.59 million yuan (US$41.87 million) in operating income.
Sun Fuling, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top political advisory body, said the growing popularity of foreign fast food resulted from an increasingly open catering market and Chinese people's recognition of overseas brands.
However, Sun said Chinese-style fast food companies need to further develop by learning management techniques used by foreign companies. Han Min, president of the hotel association, said China's catering sector has achieved a 15 per cent annual increase in recent years, far higher than the country's average economic growth rate.
From January to July this year, national turnover in the sector increased to 272 billion yuan (US$32.8 billion), up 16 per cent compared to the same time in 2001. There were about 3.5 million registered restaurants by July. By the end of 2001, an estimated 15 million Chinese people were employed in the sector.
Han predicted the annual growth rate of the catering industry will hit 16 per cent for this year, about six percentage points higher than the expected growth of China's retail trade.
Although the industry is experiencing rapid growth, Han expressed concerns.
Market order, service quality and disparities in different regions' development are major problems hindering its expansion.
( China Daily August 29, 2002)
