Wed, Jul 01, 2015 page14

• KFC fans flock to its first restaurant in Myanmar

  FINGER LICKIN’: The fast-food outlet has beaten most major chains in setting up shop in the nation, but one local said the brand’s fame means ‘it must be healthy’

  • AFP, YANGON, Myanmar
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  Fried chicken aficionados yesterday queued for hours at Myanmar’s first KFC restaurant, as the US fast-food chain became the latest big foreign brand to open an outlet in the long-cloistered nation.

  KFC Corp is the first major US restaurant chain to open in the country as reforms and the removal of most sanctions since the end of outright junta rule tempt investors to a market of millions of prospective consumers.

  Soon after the doors opened, a lunchtime crush developed at the new branch in the commercial hub of Yangon.

  

  People eat at KFC’s first branch in Yangon, Myanmar, yesterday.

  Photo: AFP

  The firm and its local partner — Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd — hope it is the first of many restaurants across the Southeast Asian nation.

  Businessman Kyaw Moe waited in line for three hours to buy chicken for eight family members, including school-age nieces and nephews.

  “I want them to taste this. It is my first time. My aunt in Singapore says it is also famous there,” the 50-year-old said, brushing off concerns that a taste for foreign fast food could lead to expanding waistlines.

  “It is internationally famous, so I think it must be healthy,” he said.

  Western brands were a rare sight in Myanmar under military rule, which kept the country isolated from the outside world for nearly half a century.

  Myanmar’s economy was left in tatters after years of mismanagement under the junta, but reforms under a quasi-civilian government have raised expectations of an economic surge in the resource-rich nation of 51 million potential consumers.

  US companies, including drinks makers Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo and carmakers General Motors Co’s Chevrolet and Ford Motor Co, have already established a sales presence in the country.

  While “The Colonel” might have beaten other major US restaurant chains into the frontier Asian market, it is not the first foreign fast-food firm to open in Myanmar. South Korea’s Lotteria burger restaurant opened its first branch in 2013 and now has seven outlets in the country.

  KFC is operating in partnership with a Myanmar franchise holder. Its 240-seat Yangon branch offers “hearty and generous portions” and “accessible prices,” according to a statement released to the press.

  Two pieces of fried chicken and fries go for 3,500 kyats (US$3.10) — a little less than the figure the government has proposed for the impoverished nation’s first minimum wage.

  “It has been our dream for a long time to have a KFC in Yangon, one of the great cities of the world,” KFC chief executive Micky Pant said, adding that the country is “poised for strong economic growth in the coming years.”

  KFC, which has more than 19,400 restaurants in 120 countries across the world, said 80 percent of its development is in emerging markets. Excited young customers took selfies with mobile phones — themselves a rare luxury only a few years ago — at the restaurant yesterday.

  Htet Ei, an 18-year-old student queuing with three friends, said she had checked on the restaurant every day since she found out it would open.

  “Now young people here can eat like young people in other countries,” she said. “I’ll always come here.”

  The arrival of a key US food brand is likely to draw further attention to a sizzling economy that hit 7.7 percent growth last year.

  However, other companies have been confounded by the challenges of a nation where firms must often import key equipment, the workforce is poorly skilled and the rule of law remains threadbare.

  Some analysts say major companies are also waiting for the outcome of pivotal elections later this year before deciding whether to take a long-term punt on the country.

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