Burger King plans large-scale China expansion

Fast food chain Burger King wants to add as many as 300 China outlets in five years to take on rivals McDonald's and KFC, the South China Morning Post reported. The world's second-largest hamburger restaurant operator currently has only 12 restaurants in the country. "Asia is by far our largest growth opportunity in the world," said Burger King CEO John Chidsey. "There are 70,000 restaurants in Asia, but we have about 700 in the region." The company was forced to scale back its Asia operations earlier in the decade amid financial problems, pulling out of Japan and Hong Kong completely. However, after raising US$425 million in a stock market listing last year, the company is now positioned to refocus on the region and has already returned to Hong Kong. While McDonald's owns all of its outlets in China, Burger King will operate on a franchise basis apart from its company-owned restaurants in Shanghai.