Thursday, April 03, 2008

Marketing in China

A number of years ago, I went to China on a business trip. I was in a city called Jining (济宁)in Shandong Province for two months. There, I came across a restaurant called California Beef Noodle King (美国加州牛肉面大王).

The logo of the restaurant featured a man – supposedly the founder Mr. Li. It reminded me of KFC’s Colonel Sanders. Incidentally, the restaurant’s trademark and logo were painted in red, same color as KFC.

A few months later, I was on another business trip, this time to California. I frequented many “Chinese American Restaurants” during my stay there. Some of the most common Chinese American cuisines included Beef and Broccoli, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Kong Po Chicken, General Tsuo’s Chicken, Chap Suay and Egg Foo Yong. Not to be forgotten are the ubiquitous Fortune Cookies. Beef noodle? I am not sure if it ever existed in California.

Chinese consumers probably think that international brands are better than home-grown ones. Mr. Li clearly selected a Western-sounding name for his business. Smart marketing move . Last check, California Beef Noodle King is doing pretty well in the Middle Kingdom, but I doubt it will ever be great in the Golden State.

China's home-grown California Beef Noodle King


P/S

Maybe I should open a curry food restaurant in China and name it Texas Curry House (美国德州咖哩餐厅). What do you think?


6 comments:

  1. very KFC look alike....
    are they running out of ideas or what ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. How about Jersey Nasi Lemak House ?

    ReplyDelete
  3. No, you should open a brothel there and name it "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas!" Hahhahaa!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. 迷迭香
    Not that they were running out of idea. But they just want to mislead the people into thinking that this really is an American business.

    keeyit
    Good idea!

    cocka
    Cannot lah. Cannot call it whorehouse. Use the term karaoke or massage center instead. I am thinking of Las Vegas Karaoke.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Is Texas known for its curry? hmmm... Who knows! It might work in the middle kingdom.

    Lai Foong is where my fav beef noodle is. Yum!

    ReplyDelete
  6. happysurfer
    Texas is not known for curry, but neither is California famous for beef noodle.

    ReplyDelete