An Investigative Study on the Development of Chinese Fast Food Restaurant in United Kingdom

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4. The Analysis of Chinese Fast Food Prospects in UK by SWOT

A SWOT analysis can be carried out for identifying the internal and external factors of an organization, and it is a structured planning method used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (Stangl, 2015; Ciraulo, 2015). There will be an analysis of Chinese fast food in UK based in Chinese food industry.

4.1 The Analysis of Strength (S)

- Price advantage (In UK £)

Table 1: Price Comparison of Chinese and UK Food

Type of Meal

Chinese

UK

Buffet

7-15

Above 10

A meal

4-8

6-15

Table 1 shows that the price of Chinese fast food in UK is relatively lower than European fast food, the buffet price is 7 to 15 pounds per person, but the latter is mostly higher than 10 pounds; other kinds of Chinese fast food, such as set meal, is from 4 to 8 pounds, whereas the other is from 6 to 15 pounds.

- Diversity of dishes

From a regional perspective, there are major cuisines, such as Cantonese, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Hunan, etc. (China Food & Drink Report, 4, 2012). While European fast food, mostly are steak, chips, pizza, stew, etc. More types of Chinese food served by Chinese fast food restaurants can give customers more options (Chaudhry and Crick, 2004; Taylor, 1994).

- Balanced nutrition

British pays great attention to diet and nutrition benefits (United Kingdom Food & Drink Report, 3, pp. 85-86, 2013). Chinese fast food with balanced nutrition is better than chips, pizzas, etc. with high calories (Lv and Brown, 2013).

4.2 The Analysis of Weakness (W)

- Small economic scale

Most of Chinese food restaurants are family-owned, which results in poor communication with each other and lacking fund (Chaudhry and Crick, 2004; Dyer, 1994).

- Depend too much on chef.

The chef’s ability is directly related to the competitiveness of Chinese restaurants (Chaudhry and Crick, 2004) since chefs find it difficult to acquire UK working visa.

- Lack of standardization and standardized management

Chinese food restaurants lack in standardization and regulation, because of the varieties of ingredients, it is complex for operation standardization (Foodservice Industry Profile: Europe, 2010).

4.3 The Analysis of Opportunities (O)

- Chinese food brand management has achieved initial success in Europe. For instance, The Wok becomes more popular in Europe. Not only boosting the confidence of Chinese food industry, but also pointing to the right direction – brand management.

- Almost four in five (78%) Britons have eaten Chinese food in the past three months, with 12% eating it at least once a week (Stones, 2015).

Table 2: British Favourite Fast Food

Ranks

Food Type

Percentage

1

Chinese

25%

2

Indian

23%

3

Fish and chips

22%

Source: Mccann (2013)

Table 2 shows that Chinese food ranks first taking 25% (Mccann, 2013). So it ensures the broad prospects of fast-food industry.

4.4 The Analysis of Threats (T)

- Catering market competition

In UK, consumers have diverse restaurant options, such as French, Italian, Thai, which directly competes with Chinese.

- Strict catering management system

Transparent Data investigated 4000 local restaurants, which showed that 55% of Chinese restaurants was not up to the standard. The rules and regulations to Chinese food restaurants are strict due to many worries.

- Prevention of non-locals

In 2011, UK immigration announced that the chef should have more than five years working experience; the minimum wage should reach 2355 pounds per month; and English ability should reach IELTS 4.0 to 5.0 at least

5. Recommendations

5.1 The Solutions Based on SWOT Analysis

Table 3: The Solutions Based on SWOT Analysis

Internal

External

Strengths

(S)

Weaknesses

(W)

Opportunities (O)

SO (Rely on internal strengths, grab external opportunities)

- Chinese fast food restaurants cooperate to improve Chinese food image (Biel, 1992).

- Grasp the consumer preferences change.

- Make full use of price strength, attract and stabilize customers.

OW (Use external opportunities, overcome internal weaknesses)

- Be familiar with local rules and convention (Cornelius et al., 2008).

- Use marketing strategy to enhance the development of brand chain.

Threats

(T)

ST

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