020901 KFC Opens China's First Drive-Through

Beijing (Reuters) - KFC, the fried chicken giant that introduced U.S.-style fast food to China, imported another American dining tradition on Tuesday with the opening of the country's first drive-through in Beijing.

Encouraged by China's rising middle-class and the swelling ranks of car-owners, KFC planned to open more drive-throughs to sell the Colonel's secret recipe to motorists in three other Chinese cities, company executives told Reuters.

Built at a cost of nearly $1.2 million, the new drive-through is in a northern Beijing suburb popular with high-flying young executives and wedged between a supermarket and a store selling mobile phones and home appliances.

"We chose this place because there are a lot of cars driving by and the community is huge. There is much potential for growth" said Jammy Liu, general manager of Beijing KFC Co Ltd.

Just opposite the new drive-through is a new apartment complex and more are under construction around the restaurant. Many in the neighborhood had cars, KFC executives said.

"In Beijing, more than 10, actually 12% of the population own automobiles. This is an impressive number. And they are increasing, as we speak, in many other cities," Tony Chen, spokesman for Yum! Restaurants China, told Reuters.

KFC is a unit of Yum! Brands Inc, which also runs the Pizza Hut and A&W chains that operate several stores in Beijing.

China's first KFC opened in 1987 near Tiananmen Square and within sight of the mausoleum of Communist revolutionary Mao Zedong, giving many Chinese their first taste of deep-fried chicken, coleslaw and mashed potatoes.

KFC planned to open drive-throughs in Shanghai and the southern boomtowns of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, Chen said.

Yum!, which also runs the Taco Bell and Long John Silver chains but has yet to bring them to China, is the world's top restaurant operator with more than 32,500 outlets.

It is also the largest restaurant operator in China, with more than 800 outlets in the country, the company said.

More than 200 cars had visited the KFC drive-through in each of several days of trials, the company said.

But not everyone can afford eating in the KFC, still viewed as an upscale eating establishment by most Chinese.

"It's too expensive. I cannot afford it." Duan Guobin, a 30-year-old worker said. A meal at KFC would cost about 20% of his weekly wages.

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