This book explores the paradox of the hospitality industry: customers demand not only personal and innovative tourism products and services, but also cost-effective ones. Enterprises have the option to meet the former demand by offering authentic products and services while the latter could be achieved through standardization. Although it seems ideal to combine both concepts, they seemingly contradict each other leading to suppliers facing an authenticity-standardization paradox. The authors identify, analyze, and provide solutions for this authenticity-standardization paradox based on a series of case studies of restaurants in China. This book will be of interest to scholars, business owners, and consultants.
"The story of Chinese Americans through the lens of food. From Canton Restaurant in 1849 to Panda Express today, Chinese food history in America spans over 150 years. Chinese 'Forty-niners' were mostly merchants and restaurateurs who migrated here not to dig gold but to do trade. Racism against the Chinese slowed down the growth of the Chinese restaurant business in the late 19th century, but it made a rebound in the format of chop suey. From 1900 to the 1960s, chop suey as imagined authentic Chinese food attracted numerous American customers including Jewish Americans as its collective fan. Then the real Chinese food such as Hunan, Sichuan or Shanghai cuisine replaced chop suey houses in the 1970s following the arrival of new Chinese immigrants after immigration reform in 1965. Those regional-flavored Chinese restaurants were brought in and established by immigrants from Taiwan rather than mainland China. As Chinese restaurants in America turned Chinese in flavor, P.F. Chang's and Panda Express rose fast in the 1990s to meet the need of constantly changing and often multi-ethnically blended eating habits of American customers. Chinese food in America is a fascinating history about both Chinese and Americans. Embedded in this history is the story of human migration, culinary tradition, racial politics, ethnic identity, cultural negotiation, Chinese Diaspora and transnational life, and Chinese cuisine as a global food. Though a scholarly work, this book aims at all readers who are interested in food history and culture"--Provided by publisher
Learn about new strategies to improve service, quality, and profitability for quick service restaurants! Quick Service Restaurants, Franchising, and Multi-Unit Chain Management examines a variety of issues pertaining to quick service restaurants. Quick-service restaurants (QSR) are the dominant sector of the foodservice industry and a one-hundred-billion-dollar industry. Since their inception in the 1920s, quick-service restaurants have become one of the cultural icons of America. This informative book contains vital information on: growth, change and strategy in the international foodservice industry food safety as an international problem and the formation of outreach committees to combat the challenges faced globally food consumption patterns and the driving forces that influence consumer food preferences the differences between mature and younger customers’ expectations and experiences in QSRs, casual, and fine dining restaurants consumer attitudes toward airline food adding quick-service meals to airplane menus factors influencing parental patronage of QSRs a case study on how Billy Ingram, founder of White Castle restaurants, made the hamburger a staple on American menus
McDonald's restaurants are found in over 100 countries, serving tens of millions of people each day. What are the cultural implications of this phenomenal success? The widely read—and widely acclaimed—Golden Arches East argues that McDonald's has largely become divorced from its American roots and become a "local" institution for an entire generation of affluent consumers in Hong Kong, Beijing, Taipei, Seoul, and Tokyo. In the second edition, James L. Watson also covers recent attacks on the fast-food chain as a symbol of American imperialism, and the company's role in the obesity controversy currently raging in the U.S. food industry, bringing the story of East Asian franchises into the twenty-first century. Praise for the First Edition: "Golden Arches East is a fascinating study that explores issues of globalization by focusing on the role of McDonald's in five Asian economies and [concludes] that in many countries McDonald's has been absorbed by local communities and become assimilated, so that it is no longer thought of as a foreign restaurant and in some ways no longer functions as one." —Nicholas Kristof, New York Times Book Review "This is an important book because it shows accurately and with subtlety how transnational culture emerges. It must be read by anyone interested in globalization. It is concise enough to be used for courses in anthropology and Asian studies." —Joseph Bosco, China Journal "The strength of this book is that the contributors contextualize not just the food side of McDonald's, but the social and cultural activity on which this culture is embedded. These are culturally rich stories from the anthropology of everyday life." —Paul Noguchi, Journal of Asian Studies "Here is the rare academic study that belongs in every library."—Library Journal
China to Chinatown tells the story of one of the most notable examples of the globalization of food: the spread of Chinese recipes, ingredients and cooking styles to the Western world. Beginning with the accounts of Marco Polo and Franciscan missionaries, J.A.G. Roberts describes how Westerners’ first impressions of Chinese food were decidedly mixed, with many regarding Chinese eating habits as repugnant. Chinese food was brought back to the West merely as a curiosity. The Western encounter with a wider variety of Chinese cuisine dates from the first half of the 20th century, when Chinese food spread to the West with emigrant communities. The author shows how Chinese cooking has come to be regarded by some as among the world’s most sophisticated cuisines, and yet is harshly criticized by others, for example on the grounds that its preparation involves cruelty to animals. Roberts discusses the extent to which Chinese food, as a facet of Chinese culture overseas, has remained differentiated, and questions whether its ethnic identity is dissolving. Written in a lively style, the book will appeal to food historians and specialists in Chinese culture, as well as to readers interested in Chinese cuisine.
Here is an insightful look into the great changes in the hospitality and tourism industry in China in recent years. The steady growth of the GDP in China, the increasing middle-income population, lifestyle changes of the Chinese people, and fast infrastructure development (speed trains, airports, highways, and seaports, linking many mega cities, mid-level cities, and townships) have all had a significant effect on the Chinese hospitality industry, which is booming in China. With much more money in their pockets, the Chinese are spending more than 60% of their disposable income on food and travel. International food and hotel chains have responded by increasing their presence in China, and in turn, new domestic restaurant and hotel chains have sprung up to compete for the business. With chapters by scholars from various universities in China and the United States, these issues and more are covered in this new volume. Readers will gain a true understanding of the current development of Chinese hospitality and tourism industry.
This three-volume encyclopedia on the history of American food and beverages serves as an ideal companion resource for social studies and American history courses, covering topics ranging from early American Indian foods to mandatory nutrition information at fast food restaurants. The expression "you are what you eat" certainly applies to Americans, not just in terms of our physical health, but also in the myriad ways that our taste preferences, eating habits, and food culture are intrinsically tied to our society and history. This standout reference work comprises two volumes containing more than 600 alphabetically arranged historical entries on American foods and beverages, as well as dozens of historical recipes for traditional American foods; and a third volume of more than 120 primary source documents. Never before has there been a reference work that coalesces this diverse range of information into a single set. The entries in this set provide information that will transform any American history research project into an engaging learning experience. Examples include explanations of how tuna fish became a staple food product for Americans, how the canning industry emerged from the Civil War, the difference between Americans and people of other countries in terms of what percentage of their income is spent on food and beverages, and how taxation on beverages like tea, rum, and whisky set off important political rebellions in U.S. history.
Ranked #5 in INSEAD’s Top Ten Knowledge Articles for Q2 2009 This book examines the major contributing factors which catapulted KFC to the top of the Chinese restaurant service industry in less than two decades. It focuses on KFC China's competitive differentiators, and how they jelled in support of a coherent business strategy, and of each other. The successful execution of KFC China's business strategy has since been rewarded with an unlikely industry leadership position in growth, profitability, market share, and brand recognition in the world's fastest growing economy.
