List of regional differences in chain menus?
As I'm sure you know, many chains have regional differences in menu items. The Arby-Q isn't available at all Arby's, for example. The Jack in the Box Big Cheeseburger is different in Texas. Taco Bell's chili-cheese burritos are still available in Texas. And so on. What web resources are available detailing these regional variances?
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Here in China, KFC and Mickey D's are ubiquitous.
There are some big differences. Let's start with KFC:
-no coleslaw-no extra crispy
-they have a 'mexican wrap' that is two pieces of deep fried boneless chicken wrapped in a flour tortilla with lettuce, mayo, and taco bell medium sauce
-there's a new orleans chicken burger with a grilled chicken breast slathered with a tomatoey bbq sauce with a tiny bit of heat as well as mayo and lettuce
-they have a fish burger on a fluffy sesame seed bun with thousand island dressing and lettuce
- a shrimp sandwich with four or five shrimp held together with some kind of breading as well as the thousand island sauce
-there's also a a pinwheel shaped burrito thing filled with taco bell mystery beef and lettuce
-the breakfast menu has a few different kinds of congee
-roasted whole wings with tips included
It seems like they are testing out Taco Bell style offerings. I hope they expand those, but I don't think they will because Taco Bell doesn't jive so well with the local sensibilities. An aggressive marketing campaign could easily remedy that though...
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Mikey D's-no 1/4 pounders (they used to have a 1/4 pounder with fresh cucumbers, cheese, and a mayo-ketchup concoction with some added heat)
- KFC style breaded fried chicken sandwiches spicy and mild
- a chicken breast sandwich with five spice, shredded cabbage, and mayo
- during the year of the pig they had deep fried spicy pork sandwich with the ketchup/mayo concoction and shredded cabbage
KFC is everywhere in the cities. There's a place in my city where there's one KFC three buildings down from another, the only difference is that one is open 24 hours. Mickey D's is aggressively expanding. KFC had a head start.
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re: misterkot
16crab
Feb 11, 2011 09:29 AM
I was going to reply with a similar answer about Canada. I'm an American transplanted to Canada, and the first time I went to a KFC here in my youth, I was like what? No biscuits and no mashed potatoes with gravy? No corn on the cob either - though I don't even know if US KFC still sells that, they did when I was a kid. I wouldn't really eat KFC any more, what with my taste buds and my conscience (both health and environmental) having matured over the years, but if that weren't the case, those two absences from the menu would be dealbreakers for me! Here it's pretty much just chicken and fries - I think maybe macaroni salad too but I'm not sure. Oh and for a while we didn't get that monstrosity between the two fried chicken breasts, but I did hear it was coming.
There's all kinds of funny, subtle differences between fast food chains here vs the states (even though I could be at the border in about 90 minutes) - Mickey D's once had and may still do limited edition pizza . I think they also have grilled cheese sandwiches in some places, and poutine in Quebec. I'm sure there's others, I just don't frequent fast food that often but it would be interesting to compare the menus.
What I find really strange is that some of the big sit-down chains haven't made their way across the border...the likes of Cheesecake Factory, Macaroni Grill, those kinds of places. We had a few Olive Gardens and Outbacks but they didn't make it - and we have our share of the Canadian versions of those places --Kelseys, Jack Astors --but they're all one and the same to me. At least in the states if you are going to one of those places for one reason or another, you can go for Italian or Mexican or whatever.
Don't even get me started on the grocery store brands being the same but not carrying the same products!
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