Chinese burger innovations bolster local brands

"While the Chinese burger may not represent the ultimate future, it undeniably reflects a current trend. However, the true future lies in the emerging influence of lower-tier cities on the F&B sector."

After the initial surge in popularity, businesses specializing in Chinese-style burgers began to reveal some underlying issues, like the high homogeneity among signature dishes.

Most Chinese burger joints still adhere to the approach of Western fast-food labels, incorporating Chinese elements into design, product packaging and burger flavors. It remains unclear, however, whether such innovations are genuinely "Chinese" or merely gimmicks.

In some Tastien stores, the bestselling burger is still the "Spicy Fried Chicken Burger", indicating that consumers may purchase Chinese-style burgers merely for novelty or promotional prices.

Second, the advantage of cost-effectiveness is not always apparent. Despite positioning themselves as low-cost options and targeting the lower-tier market primarily through franchising, brands such as Tastien have been dubbed the "McDonald's of Chinese burgers".

Following KFC and McDonald's promotional campaigns, Tastien introduced its own "Member Tuesday" promotions and developed "Tastien Literature" on platforms like Douyin, Xiaohongshu and Bilibili to attract young consumers such as Lu.

According to Chenzhi Data, a consumer on average spends about 19.6 yuan at Tastien, which is 2 yuan more than what is spent at Wallace but way lower than the 33.8 yuan spent at KFC and the 27.6 yuan spent at McDonald's.

However, compared to the promotional campaigns of KFC and McDonald's, Tastien's pricing advantage does not seem like an advantage at all.

The well-known Spicy Chicken Burger is priced at 16 yuan at Tastien but retails at 19.5 yuan at KFC and 10.9 yuan at McDonald's (in-store prices are compiled from their mini programs).

The expansion rate of Western fast-food players in China has been rapid, piling greater pressure on Tastien.

In December, KFC opened its 10,000th store in China, becoming the first overseas brand to reach that milestone. KFC promptly announced plans to accelerate store openings in the next three years, aiming for a net addition of over 1,200 stores annually, hoping to expand its membership base from 400 million to 700 million.

wangzhuoqiong@chinadaily.com.cn