This kind of food with local characteristics is very popular among consumers. When we think of American fast food, we usually think of KFC or McDonald's. Their stores are located in major cities in China. As of the end of last year, they had more than 5,900 and 2,900 stores respectively, occupying an absolute dominant position in the market. However, in addition to these two major brands, there is another company with the same name, which is called the Big Three of Western fast food. It is Dicos.
Data shows: Dicos originated in the southern United States and opened its first restaurant in China in the 1990s. However, the market at that time was already occupied by KFC and McDonald's, which had entered a few years earlier. The company could not continue to operate on its own, and was later taken over by the Ting Hsin Group (Master Kong's parent company), with Wei Yingxing, the fourth eldest son of the Wei family, in charge. After more than 20 years of development, it has launched two specialty products: crispy fried chicken and rice burgers. It currently has more than 2,400 stores, most of which are located in third- and fourth-tier cities.
In fact, Dicos’ early products were modeled after KFC and McDonald’s, with a simple combination of burgers, French fries and soda. This approach obviously didn't work, so after being acquired by Ting Hsin, the brand repositioned and began the process of localization. Since the stores are mainly opened in the Sichuan and Chongqing areas, the taste of the burgers is spicy and more down-to-earth. The drinks were also replaced by tea, which is more popular among Chinese people, and even ketchup was replaced by bean paste.
Wei Yingxing knows very well that if he wants to make it big, he must go to big cities. So he set his sights on opening more than 50 directly-operated stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and new first-tier cities such as Wuhan, most of which were 700 to 800 square meters in size. In addition, Zhang Huimei was invited to be an endorsement. This series of changes greatly increased her income.
Seeing the rise of another chain of fast food restaurants, KFC and McDonald's will certainly not sit idly by and join forces to attack. The fledgling Dicos began to lose ground and encountered difficulties in capital turnover, and finally had to withdraw from the first-tier market. In Wei Yingxing's words, he shouted a shocking slogan at that time called "Blooming Everywhere", but within only three or four years, "everywhere was bruised and bruised." The initial investment of US$50 million ended up with a loss of only more than US$20,000.
After deep reflection, I realized that my products were too thin, and if I wanted to compete head-on with my competitors, I needed more flagship products. So I decided to start with burgers, upgrading the traditional bread slices into steamed glutinous rice slices, and named it rice burger. This kind of food with local characteristics is very popular among consumers.