KFC Rules the Roost in China

Li Yang, China-Since becoming the first foreign fast-food chain to enter China in 1989, Dallas-based Tricon Global Restaurants Inc., parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, has built 490 KFC stores in 120 Chinese cities, nearly all company-owned, and is still expanding.

In 1993, Tricon allowed the establishment of the first Chinese KFC franchise in Xian. Chinese franchisees must have at least $1 million to invest in the license, have restaurant experience, are required to purchase an operating KFC restaurant and cannot operate in China's biggest cities, where company-owned restaurants dominate the turf.

In China, an Original Chicken meal costs nearly $3, the equivalent of six hours of work for the average person. Despite that bar, KFC's China operations claim the highest per-store sales in the world, 20 percent above the U.S. -Los Angeles Times