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McDonald's to sell rice meals

"We did a trial run in November, and consumer reaction was positive."

Viya Chen, marketing director at McDonald's Taiwan

McRice is here. McDonald's Restaurants (Taiwan) Co plans to add oriental-style lunchboxes to its menu to boost stagnant sales, a company executive said yesterday.

"Eyeing the expanding dinning market for working folks as well as families, McDonald's Taiwan has decided to expand its product line from fast food to oriental-style meals," said Viya Chen (陳薇雅), the marketing director at McDonald's Taiwan.

The Golden Arches will begin spooning up rice starting from next Monday in all 347 McDonald's outlets nationwide.

Taiwanese gobble up about NT$20 billion in fast food annually, of which McDonald's Taiwan controls around 70 percent of the market.

"There is little room for us to grow if we still stick to this sector," she said.

Instead the company plans to target the "non-fast food, dine-in restaurant market," which they estimate to be worth nearly NT$220 billion annually.

The new product was created specifically for rice eaters.

"We are looking to meet the needs of a variety of different groups, such as parents that want to eat Chinese-style meals while their kids enjoy burgers, all in one location," Chen said.

She added that market research showed that most Taiwanese between the ages of 20 to 39 prefer to have rice meals rather than burgers or chicken nuggets.

McDonald's reported NT$13 billion in sales last year, and this year's growth appears to have stagnated at about that same level.

Poor sales and market saturation forced McDonald's Taiwan to close 15 unprofitable stores and laid off 390 employees last month.

McDonald's Taiwan doesn't plan any further cuts to its workforce, "but we will make some adjustments from time to time depending on the economic climate," Chen said.

The company is hoping the lunchboxes will help boost sales by as much as 10 percent.

"We conducted a trial run in November, and consumer reaction was positive," Chen said.

The NT$129 meals come in four varieties: curry-pork rice, mushroom-chicken rice, ginger-pork rice and spicy Thai-style chicken rice. Each order comes with a cup of soup or a beverage.

Finishing off some curry rice in a Linsen South Road McDonald's yesterday, Brian Weidemann, a marketing manager at a Taiwanese technology company said, "It's not bad."

He called the idea "innovative" and vowed to eat it again.

Another customer at the same restaurant said the price may deter consumption.

"It tastes good, but the price is a little bit high," said Lu Chia-wen (盧佳雯), 22, an employee at a trading company, and a biweekly visitor to McDonalds.

Lu suggested NT$99 was a more reasonable price.

"Even if I can get a lunchbox at McDonald's, next time I'm still going to order burgers and fries," she said.
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