An Italian Pizza Craze in China – Pizza Hut is right at the forefront

Of all the changes China has gone through over the last decades, a change in diet hadn’t taken place to a huge extent – until now. While Western products have been very popular for some time in China, they were resistant to the dairy-laden Western diet until they discovered pizza. Right now, Pizza Hut is opening new locations in China at the rate of one a day, and they’re not alone. Papa John’s is getting 20% of its total profits from 150 locations in 30 Chinese cities.

Fast food wasn’t even around before 1990. But now that the Chinese have accepted pizza in their national diet, they’ve really embraced it. The average Chinese urbanite is eating Western-style fast food at least once a week, and Pizza Hut is right at the center of it all.

But they’re not the Pizza Hut you might be imagining. For one thing, you may need a reservation at your local Pizza Hut. Going for pizza isn’t a fast food experience in China. It’s more akin to a night of fine dining, not only because the food is at least 10 times more expensive than getting your food anywhere else, but also because the restaurant tries very hard to justify the price.

Sitting down at a Chinese Pizza Hut is an experience. The environment is colorful, friendly, and Western, which appears to be a bigger selling point than the food itself. Even if pizza is wildly popular, it seems that people are coming back for the entire experience of eating in the restaurant, not so much for the food itself.