KFC in China
If there is one thing that China has wholly embraced from the West, it is the love for Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The Chinese typically prefer pork, followed by chicken over beef-based products. KFC therefore enjoys a natural product advantage over McDonald’s. The chain has established itself as the most popular overseas fast-food restaurant in China, and the tailoring of its product range and branding has been incredibly effective. The success of KFC is explained because the ‘chicken branding’ has continuously launched new products that better fit the Chinese consumer’s preferences. For example, they offer Chinese-style porridge for breakfast; Beijing Chicken Rolls (that look like the famous Beijing Duck served with scallion and seafood sauce); or the Spicy Diced Chicken resembling a popular Sichuan-style dish.
The launch of Original + in partnership with Baidu
China’s largest search engine, Baidu, and fast food restaurant chain KFC announced the launch of a concept store named « Original+ » in Shanghai.
This store is going to use conversational robots as servers to offer consumers from all over the country high-quality dining services.
The restaurant will use voice interaction, intelligent search, smart food ordering and the holographic projection capabilities developed by Baidu in conjunction with KFC’s food.
Inside the store, the customers are offered a digitalized experience from ordering and paying, to built-in entertainment. They can place orders with Baidu’s ‘Duer’, that is, artificial intelligence robots. For that, they just have to ask the robot what they want to eat and the rest of the process is all automatized.
Customers can also look at KFC’s signature fried chicken dishes through the new 360-degree holographic imaging technology.
Finally, it is also linked to the mobile application, users can say to the machine “Duer I want to eat KFC” and the app will complete the online food-ordering process.
Baidu, the best innovative company
The most important Chinese search engine demonstrates a high level of innovation with the development of such novel technology.
It is the first time that robots have been used for high-tech services in everyday life.
It is an amazing entertainment experience for KFC’s customers because it is a totally new and innovative concept. Moreover, robots are designed to be cordial and engaging to deliver a good image and a pleasant moment for clients.
Wang Haifeng, the vice president of Baidu, said that the application of Duer is the realization of Baidu’s efforts to connect people with information and services. The cooperation with KFC is a key reference point for future developments. Actually, Baidu has planned to develop its technology in diverse sectors and Duer may be a part of the company’s application in fields that range from internet financing to driverless cars and so on.
1 comment
Hannah Flack
This is a great list! The thing I started making from scratch was chocolate syrup. Best chocolate milk ever!