Beijing's 1st McDonald's Drive-Thru

Big excitement in China last week!

McDonald's opened Beijing's first drive-thru restaurant on Friday, 19 January 2007 to great fanfare.

McDonald's has experimented with drive-thrus in China in the recent past. The McChronicles has been fortunate to experience some of the activities - more than once. Given the burgeoning middle class (replete with new cars and places to go) and the drive-thru is a guaranteed success in China.

But hang on. While this is McDonald's first drive-thru in Beijing, the company already has "15 other drive-throughs in China, in Shanghai and the southern cities of Guangdong and Shenzhen" according to an article published in US NEWS & WORLD REPORTS website.

The article goes on to say, "McDonald's speeded up its plan to open drive-throughs (sic) in China after seeing strong demand at the first, which opened in December 2005 in the southern city of Dongguan near Hong Kong. 'We thought we were two to three years early, and once we opened it, we thought we might be two to three years late, because of how successful it was,' Schwartz said." (McDonald's China CEO Jeffrey Schwartz).

The McChronicles' experience with China McDonald's drive-thrus reveals that the local element includes some "extra help" for customers who may have never experienced a drive-thru before. An extra crew person mans a window, ready to answer any questions. Excellent!.

The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Image: AP Photo/NG HAN GUAN