McDonald’s Corp. whose recent focus on breakfast has invigorated its U.S. business, is now banking that Egg McMuffins and coffee will be a hit in China.
Tim Fenton, head of McDonald’s Asia-Pacific unit, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that breakfast is a “long-term strategy” in China, where the first meal of the day is more likely to include rice porridge with pork or mushrooms than eggs or hashbrowns.
McDonald’s breakfast push is one way the world’s biggest restaurant chain is looking not only to boost profits — breakfast products are cheaper to make than burgers — but also to stand out from Yum Brands Inc. whose KFC business is the largest fast-food chain in China, Fenton said.
About 80 percent of Chinese consumers eat breakfast, Fenton said, and 68 percent of that group eat breakfast away from home. Breakfast sales doubled in China in the first quarter, in part because the menu is now available in more restaurants. Fenton said he is optimistic that there is plenty of room for further growth.
“It’s got huge upside potential,” he said.
KFC has a small breakfast business in China, and the head of Yum’s Chinese business, Sam Su, told Reuters last year that morning sales are a good opportunity to capture more sales.
McDonald’s had been selling breakfast at some of its restaurants in China for about 14 years, but took the menu into all of its 800 restaurants there late last year.
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