Just as the grass is greener on the other side, there’s a compelling argument floating around that overseas branches of familiar U.S. restaurant chains may be more delicious on the other side of the ocean. Social media has backed up that argument with influencers and average consumers captivated by the way American chains are serving up menu items that are more tempting, visually interesting, and covetable—given that these items are not available stateside. What started as a savvy business decision to adapt to local tastes, customs, and culture has led to many rich opportunities for restaurants to innovate.
There’s a full banquet of fast food excitement from overseas on social media sites like Instagram and TikTok and online news sites like Stacker and BuzzFeed (“52 McDonald’s Items We Need in the U.S.”), which is capturing the imagination of American consumers.
In response, starting in 2019, McDonald’s tapped into this buzz with limited-run “International Menus” showcasing the hottest sellers from Australia, the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, France, Spain, and Brazil. This past April, Burger King opened a 100% vegan pop-up store in London’s Leicester Square, which in turn, begat a similar pop-up this fall in Bristol, reflecting its commitment to vegans, vegetarians, and health-conscious customers. Domino’s, KFC, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut, and other U.S. fast food chains have likewise left American fans craving what they can’t have (unless it gets picked up for a stateside promotion).
“The U.S. chain restaurants with successful outposts abroad first found and kept their audiences overseas by creating a variety of dishes micro-targeted at different populations, or [they] adapted recipes of menu staples to harmonize with local tastes, dietary practices, and the raw materials available,” says Anjee Solanki, National Director, Retail Services & Practice Groups for Colliers, which handles commercial real estate, including restaurants. “But as more Americans have traveled abroad, experiencing local menus at familiar chains became part of that travel experience. Social media influencers and platforms like TikTok and Instagram have further expanded public awareness of the different innovations and menu options from American chains in foreign countries.”
As this is happening, more sit-down restaurants are getting into the act. This past September, Dallas-based TGI Fridays announced it signed a deal with Singapore-based master franchisor Universal Success Enterprises for 75 new restaurants throughout South and Southeast Asia over the next 10 years.
Other chains setting down roots abroad include The Cheesecake Factory (with locations in UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Mexico, the Chinese Mainland, and Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau open for business as of late 2021); P.F. Chang’s (locales include Argentina, Baharain, Ecuador, Guatamala, Kazakstan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E.); and the restaurants of “Blooming Brands” (Outback Steakhouse, Fleming’s, Bonefish Grill, and Carrabba’s Italian Grill) with 150-plus locations worldwide.
Climbing higher up the food chain, two Chicago-originating restaurants have established themselves abroad: Morton’s The Steakhouse has locations in Mexico City, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, and Tokyo; and Maggiano’s Little Italy can be found in the U.K., Australia, India, Spain, Germany, France, and New Zealand. New York City-based Nobu Hospitality, LLC—co-founded by chef Nobu Matsuhisa, actor Robert De Niro, and Meir Teper—has restaurants in the luxury category covering the globe on five continents. This success paved the way for luxury hotels to follow. While there may be a little less variation for sit-down restaurants in comparison to what McDonald’s is putting its golden arches on, the subtle ways in which they adapt may prove to be just as interesting.
In her investigation into the success of U.S. fast food chains overseas in 2019 for The Yale Globalist, author Rada Pavlova provided examples of how various companies were able to achieve “glocalization,” a term coined in Japan that evolved to reflect a way to effectively balance qualities that make a familiar brand of restaurant quintessentially American while factoring in local tastes, available ingredients, and a value proposition. Over the course of three decades, she provides examples of how this resulted not only in innovative menus but also dining environments that appealed to the local cultures. And as American palates have broadened in the last three decades, buzz about certain items were bound to intensify.
“The success of fast-food chains abroad and the marketing techniques used to appeal to the local population show a great understanding of what customers desire,” said Pavlova. “Companies created products that were the perfect mixture of the glamorous image of the Western world and the traditional cuisine. Restaurant spaces were designed to reflect the local taste and, at the same time, provide what local industries could not. Advertisements aimed at presenting global companies as fully suiting the local environments, and the immense fame they gained, proves the notion that one piece, with slight alterations, can fit all. Whether globalization of food industries brought cultures together or simply allowed America to enter all other cultures and leave a permanent mark is a difficult question.”
As she argues that different countries may have to adapt to the global eating culture, instead of the other way around, that notion poses an interesting dilemma not only for fast food but also for fast casual and more upscale chains opening up locations overseas.
“As international travel picks up post-COVID, there has been significant increase in U.S. consumers' interest to try these American chains in the foreign markets that they are traveling to,” says Solanki. “While you would assume consumers would want to try the food of the culture, it is also an amusing experience for Americans to try international versions of their favorite comfort foods. Not only is it interesting to see how an international McDonald's or other chain restaurant compares to one back in the U.S., but it is also interesting to see how they vary country to country. This is wildly entertaining from a sociological perspective that can translate to other types of restaurant chains.”
In other words, the possibility exists for higher-end fast casual and upscale chain restaurants to translate curiosity and practicality into food innovation, which can potentially help them adjust to the expanding, changing, and increasingly sophisticated tastes of customers on their home turf while building customer bases abroad. Solanki also observes that American chains continue to see growth in foreign markets for various reasons, such as higher brand visibility due to the internet, more travel, less competition, and new revenue growth opportunities in new markets with higher population bases. Several of the U.S. chains also look to grow in new markets with a rapidly growing middle-class population.
“American consumers can easily transport themselves into another culture through the use of social media,” Solanki continues, noting these posts not only have novelty value but can also potentially be used to rethink or update menus in domestic markets. She cites the introduction of foreign best sellers to U.S. customers by McDonald’s in 2019. “Some U.S. marketers see social commerce as a critical way to build awareness and trust among young consumers, attract new customers, and collect data on shoppers, including their behavior online before making a purchase. Tech innovations, such as menu-ordering touchscreens, in Europe have been more advanced while the U.S. has lagged behind.”
There’s much U.S. chains can learn from their overseas operations to stay current with the increasingly diversified interests and tastes of their customers, according to Solanki. “It is important that American chains continue to understand their [domestic] consumers and their ever-changing needs. Menu items should be constantly evolving and should be in line with the consumer’s culture, just as they have been abroad. However, with continued local growth and competition, it is critical that [operators] understand the amount of retail space that their consumers need in each country or even among U.S. regions as preferences may vary.”