Taco Bell Starts Tolling in Beijing

What’s new: Mexican fast food chain Taco Bell has opened its first store in the Chinese capital Beijing, four years after first entering the country with a store in Shanghai.

The new store opened this week in Beijing’s upscale Liangmaqiao area, according to a statement from Yum China, the operator of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants in China.

In addition to its standard Mexican fare, the restaurant is nodding to local tastes by offering such locally developed dishes as rice bowls and taco pizzas.

Why it matters: Taco Bell’s opening follows a similar pattern for Western restaurant chains, which often start out in China’s commercial capital of Shanghai and expand from there after tweaking their concepts to suit the local market.

Another U.S. chain hamburger specialist Shake Shack, recently made a similar move by opening its first Beijing store more than a year after launching in Shanghai. U.S. Fried chicken chain Popeyes also opened an inaugural store in Shanghai to long lines, in a return to China earlier this year.

Contact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com)

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