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McDonald's aggressive growth plan in China on track

November 21, 2010

Shortly after the start of 2010, McDonald's celebrated the opening of its first Hamburger University training center in mainland China. Coinciding with the opening was an announcement of McDonald's Corp.'s plans to have more than 2,000 units in the country by the end of 2013.

Those plans seem to be right on track.

McDonald's China CEO Kenneth Chan told CNBC that the quick-service chain has started to accelerate its growth pace in that country.

Currently, McDonald's has about 1,100 outlets throughout the mainland, with an anticipated 1,300 stores open by the end of 2010. The company is hoping to take advantage of China's rapidly growing consumer market, which is expanding at about 10 percent a year in the "Informal eating out sector," versus 2 to 3 percent in the United States.

McDonald's opened its first location in China in 1990. In 20 years, the company has invested more than CNY 7 billion (more than $1 billion) in investments there.

McDonald's biggest competitor in the Chinese market is Yum! Brands, which includes about 3,000 KFC units alone among its flagship brands.

Still, Chan said there is enough room for any companies willing to grow in China.

From the story:

"If you look at the overall 'informal eating out' market, it’s a 300 billion dollar market. The western 'quick service restaurant' categories are actually only a small fraction of that market, so there's room enough for everybody to grow. What we're concerned about is that we expand in a very disciplined manner, with some flexibility to move faster of course. Disciplined in terms of making sure that our restaurants are positioned in the right cities so that we win and expand," Chan said.