Chinese are hitting the road in record numbers. Car ownership more than tripled between 2000 and 2006, and China is now the world’s second largest auto market after the United States. This love affair is spawning booming new auto-service industries, from vehicle accessories to roadside eateries. For better or worse, China is beginning to look—and taste—a lot like America … in the 1950s.
McDonald’s and KFC (already known for its Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets all over the country) plan to open about 300 drive-through restaurants in China by 2010; both began testing the waters with drive-ins in Beijing and elsewhere two years ago. McDonald’s has partnered with Sinopec, China’s biggest oil producer, to open more than 50 drive-throughs annually at Sinopec service stations. The retail oil giant has more than 30,000 gas stations and is adding more than 500 a year. The first drive-in under this alliance opened in Beijing suburbs in January “to bring convenient, great-tasting McDonald’s meals to China’s increasingly mobile customers,” as a company release put it. Meanwhile, Yum! Brands plans to build 100 KFC drive-throughs by 2010.
But Chinese don’t need foreigners to tell them that keeping motorists fed and watered is big business. Roadside diners are popping up like mushrooms along the country’s fast-spreading expressways, usually as part of the expanding retail-gas-station network. Meals are just what the driving public wants them to be: quick (often self-serve) and usually cheap, but with more-expensive options for growing middle-class tastes. A speedy, slurpy bowl of noodles in a greasy-chopstick joint costs 50 cents a bowl. But travelers can also tuck into a cornucopia of cafeteria-style hot buffet offerings: spicy bean curd, kung pao chicken, dumplings, the works.
Some provinces even rate roadside service with stars (none to four). One “four-star diner” not far from Shijiazhuang in Hebei province boasts an all-you-can-eat mutton hotpot plus buffet for little more than $3 per person. That’s pricey by mainland standards, but affordable for the growing crowds of yuppie domestic tourists. This past spring a group of traveling businessmen piled out of a VW and tucked into a hotpot of crabmeat, fish, cabbage and noodles. The only disconcerting note was the frequency of “Bottoms up!” toasts as they downed glasses of potent Chinese white-lightning liquor, which came with the meal. Fortunately, there’s another new service catering to motorists: companies that provide drivers to transport inebriated travelers safely to their destinations.
