Quanjude roast duck named top brand
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-07-27 02:14

Beijing's renowned roast duck restaurant Quanjude was awarded as the top brand in China's catering business by a leading world laboratory on Monday, with an estimated value of 8.458 billion yuan (about US$1.02 billion).

Tony Liu, senior analyst with the World Brand Laboratory (WBL), announced the result and presented a certificate to Quanjude at the restaurant's 140th anniversary ceremony on Monday.

A chef in Quanjude carries a roast duck out of the stove, which is the No. 115,000,000th roast duck ever made by the renowned restaurant, Monday in Beijing. [newsphoto]

Quanjude ranked 56th overall out of the 500 most famed Chinese brands in the lab's research. It boasts traditional recipes of Roast Peking Duck, which has become a not only nationwide but worldwide recognized culinary creation.

The founding father of Quanjude is a farmer named Yung Quanren from north China's Hebei province. He grew up farming and raising ducks for his landlord before going into business for himself.

In 1864, he bought a bankrupt fruit store and turned it into a restaurant specializing in duck cuisine. He called the new restaurant Quanjude, following the suggestions of a yin-yang master, a person who is believed to foretell people's fortune.

Quanjude has turned out to be the most prestigious restaurant in China in the past 140 years. The brand was first valued at 269 million yuan (some 32 million US dollars) in 1994.

WBL, cited as one of world's leading organizations for brand evaluation, is a research body attached to the World Executive Institute Ltd, chaired by Robert A. Mundell, a celebrated laureate economist.

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