Interesting. Well, if the one in Parramatta fell over then you’d think they could try again somewhere with no competition (Brisbane? Adelaide?), but then again, someone at corporate HQ will probably say “Nah, we tried that in Australia 10 years ago and it didn’t work, so we’re not bothering again.”
Certainly in Brisbane, there’s a serious lack of places to eat after 10pm unless you want McDonalds or Truckstop Cafe style food, so an IHOP would do really well up here I think.
Maybe, as a collective, the Gerrman Schnell Imbiß or Imbißchen. Currywurst und Linseneintopf, sosse frites, und pizza.
Which is a really interesting phenomenon, because Buffalo tends to have far fewer chains – restaurant and general retail as well – as other peer metropolitan areas. Locally, the phenomenon is called “everywhere but Buffalo”, where a chain store or restaurant will have a location practically everywhere in the country, Great Lakes region or even upstate New York except Buffalo.
Whenever I visited Canada, I noticed not only the presence of US restaurant chains (many of which incorporated maple leafs into their logos), but also Canada-only chains that seem like alternative universe versions of some US chains. For example:
Harvey’s: Canadian Carl’s/Hardee’s
Second Cup: Canadian Starbuck’s
Kelsey’s: Canadian Ruby Tuesday’s
Montana’s: Canadian Texas Roadhouse
East Side Mario’s: Canadian Olive Garden
Pizza Pizza: Canadian Little Caesar’s
Is there not even a late night pizza joint or taco bell? What do you guys when you stumble out of a pub at 1 in the morning and really need to eat something?
No Taco Bells anywhere in Australia and whilst there are a few late-night pizza places, it’s not the same as getting an actual meal at 2am because you’ve just finished a late shift or whatever.
Usually the “stumbling out of the pub at 3am” crowd (who are generally in the centre of town anyway) head to McDonalds/Burger King or a late night pizza-by-the-slice or Kebab placce, FWIW. Outside the CBD there’s generally nowhere open after 10pm for food that isn’t Maccas or Petrol Station/7-11 Pies, sausage rolls, and sandwiches.
NZ has a few Dennys. In Auckland people with (the munchies" late at night may go to a “pie cart” (old name they no longer sell pies) called the White Lady.
That was the thrust of my earlier argument, NZ of all places has several profitable Denny’s stores, but Australia- a country with six times the population and a big “road trip” culture- can’t support even one?
We have now tried Big Apple Donuts & Coffee, or Bapple for short, and really like them. Two locations in Bangkok: 4th floor of Siam Center and 1st floor of seacon Square. They’re almost twice the cost of Dunkin’ Donuts and Mr. Donut, but they have unique flavors and don’t feel as heavy. They seemed to be doing a good trade when we were there. We’ll be back.
I found one of the Beard Papa’s here in Beijing yesterday by accident and tried them on the recommendation of this thread. There ok but nothing too special.
I’m still looking for good donuts here in China. The packaged Bimbo ones are surprisingly good, but I want a freshly baked, cream-filled donut. They are probably here somewhere, but I haven’t found them yet.
Dunkin’ donuts???
BTW, in Shanghai and never heard of a Diko’s Chicken. Never seen one on my travels in China. :dubious:
Yonghe, which has tofu milk, breadsticks, dumplings, and other assorted breakfast/snack type food is at least big in Shanghai/Yangzi River valley area.
Yoshinoya Beef Bowl is a listed company on the Japanese Stock Market.
Can’t think of any other ubitquitous chains in China. There are a lot of smaller chains but a nationwide thing is led by McD’s, Pizzabutt and KFC.
There might be some in Beijing but I haven’t found one yet. I mostly haunt the Haidian District in the north. One problem with always taking a bus is that you get into a comfortable route and usually don’t take other streets. There could be one within a couple of kms and never know it.
I just found some articles (here) about Dunkin’ Donuts opening 100 stores in Shanghai in 10 years starting in 2008. No mention of Beijing. Maybe you’re tripping all over them, but they’re pretty scarce around here.
Would you guy’s count Wetherspoon’s? Massive pub chain in the UK, has identical menu’s and stuff so I guess it counts as a chain even if the locations look different.
I reckon it could do quite well in the US…
Yeah, KFC in China is almost a complete oxymoron, it’s mostly not fried, it’s mostly not chicken and it most certainly doesn’t have anything to do with Kentucky.
Coming in late but it’s “Al Baik” in Saudi Arabia and nearby. IMHO far better than KFC; larger birds, hotter fat [crisper], light-years better fries. Always first choice when I worked in the Kingdom for two years.
That sounds delicious! Thank you for reminding me of what it was.
Mmm, not sure I agree with you here. It seems pretty clear to me that if Pizza Hut/Dominos/Papa Johns/etc. are as popular as they are in the US, it’s because a lot of people think they give pretty good pizza for the price. Same goes for the burger joints. And if those chains successfully expand outside the United States, it’s because people outside the US have decided that they like the food, too. What’s controversial about that? Americans - and non-Americans - are voting which chains succeed, by eating at them and making them worthwhile business ventures. Am I missing something? 
Rodgers01 writes:
> Originally Posted by Wendell Wager
Could you explain to me how you managed to misspell my name? That’s not even supposed to be possible, is it? I thought that when you hit the “Quote” button, it just copied down the poster name automatically.
Huh. I’m not sure why, but for some reason I copied and pasted your post and put it in the Quote brackets, rather than hitting the “Quote” button. And then I guess I wrote your name wrong. That’s all.
High powered advertisng campaigns have a lot to do with it, especially McD’s who target the kids quite heavily. I think they have just regulated what they can show in ads during children’s viewing time ( in NZ) for that very reason.
I know if I had a choice between Burger Fuel & any American burger chain I would choose Burger Fuel every time http://www.burgerfuel.com/bf_light/menu.php There drinks are ridiculously expensive though.