the growth of fast-food restaurants in china

　　shanghai, with a population of more than ]2 million peppie, is the fastest-growing, richest city in eastern china. today shanghai has hundreds of fast-food    restaurants    including mcdonald's, pizza hut and the chinese-style california beef noodle king.

　　chinese customers like this new style of dining because it is fast, convenient and clean. these restaurant chains offer a wide variety of foods new to china. mcdonald's customers are still more likely to eat chicken or fish than the company's more famous hamburgers because they are not so familiar with beef. over time, however, the city's customers are eating more beef, cheese and french fries than previous generations since more young people like to eat western fast-food.

　　shanghai's western fast-food restaurants are more expensive than the chinese-style food outlets. as a result, it is members of the middle class earning more money and spending it on entertainment and food who eat in them frequently.nowadays, about half of shanghai's consumers are eating out at a restaurant at least once a month. most of them are young men under the age of 36.

　　how fast has the spread of fast-food restaurants been in china'? take a look at kentucky fried chicken (kfc) and mcdonald's: kfc had 40 restaurants in shanghai in 1996, and 250 in 1998, while mcdonald's had 180 restaurants across china in 1998. such popularity means that these figures will most probably double in two or three years.

　　快餐厅在中国的发展

　　拥有超过0万人口的上海，是华东地区发展最快、最富裕的城市。如今，上海已有包括麦当劳、必胜客、中式加州牛肉面大王等几百家快餐厅。

　　中国顾客喜欢这种新型的就餐方式，因为它快捷、方便、卫生。这些连锁餐馆给中国带来了大量全新的食品。麦当劳的顾客仍然更愿意品尝鸡肉和鱼肉，而对于这里更为出名的汉堡，却鲜有尝试，因为他们对牛肉并不熟悉。然而随着时间的发展，与上一代人相比，城市顾客对牛肉、奶酪、炸薯条的消费已经越来越大，因为越来越多的年轻人喜欢吃西式快餐。

　　上海的西式快餐厅价格比中餐馆贵。  因此经常来这里就餐的人以中产阶级为主，他们收入较高，同时也愿意在娱乐、餐饮方面消费。如今，大约一半的上海消费者每月至少外出在餐馆吃一次饭。他们大多是36岁以下的年轻人。

　　快餐厅在中国的发展到底有多快?让我们看一看肯德基和麦当劳：1996年上海共有40家肯德基餐厅，到了1998年已达到250家；1998年中国已有180家麦当劳餐厅。  西式快餐如此受欢迎，预计在两三年之内，这个数字还会翻一番。