McDonald's Hamburger University

Yesterday we ate at McDonald's. We packed up the stroller and headed down the street to get a taste of America. We don't often go to McDonald's because it usually doesn't taste much different than America. However, once or twice a term we need a taste of home and McDonald's will do for that.

We're amazed to find so many foreigners in McDonald's joining the Chinese for an all-American dinner. Last night there were American, an Australian, and 3-4 Pakistanis eating hamburgers. We were quite the display. So much so that everyone would stop by and check out our order and kids before moving through the store along their way.

Interestingly, the most recent ZGBriefs had two articles about McDonald's presence in China. Read the news below:

McDonald's opens Hamburger Univ. in Shanghai¹ (March 30, 2010, AP)
China's newest university has no football field or fancy library. For inspiration, it looks not to Confucius, but to Ronald McDonald. But Shanghai's Hamburger U. aspires to be a leader in higher learning for ambitious Chinese managers. McDonald's Corp. inaugurated its first Hamburger University in China on Tuesday to train new generations of managers as foreign companies step up efforts to develop and keep Chinese talent. China is McDonald's Inc.'s fastest-growing global market, said Tim Fenton, the company's president for Asia, Pacific, Middle East and Africa. He said the country's $300 billion-a-year "informal eating out" market is expanding at an annual rate of 10 percent, compared with 2 to 3 percent in the United States.

McDonald's to double China outlets in 3 years² (March 30, 2010, AP)
McDonald's said Tuesday it plans to nearly double its number of outlets in China by the end of 2013 as the US fast-food giant seeks to expand its presence in the world's biggest developing economy. The company aims to boost the number of its outlets in China to 2,000 from around 1,100 in three years, Dow Jones Newswires reported, citing Tim Fenton, the company's president of Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa. McDonald's will open 150-175 outlets in the country this year, its China chief executive Kenneth Chan said.
_______________
¹ ZGBriefs for April 1, 2010
² ZGBriefs for April 1, 2010