HONG KONG, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- McDonald's runs a below-ground test kitchen in Hong Kong, where the fast-food chain creates food served at its Asia, Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions.
Adjacent to McDonald's quality control lab, the kitchen is part of the company's efforts to improve its focus in a market that is becoming more important, Crain's said. The kitchen was one of the first investments that Tim Fenton made when he was appointed president of the McDonald's region in March 2005.
One of the latest creations is a hand-held pinwheel food item that looks like a quesadilla. Why a pinwheel? Because it is a symbol of good luck, Fenton told Crain's.
Fenton said hand-held convenience is important for McDonald's Asian market.
More than half of the planned restaurants will have drive-up windows, Crain's said. Right now, there are four drive-ups in China, which account for most of those restaurants' sales.
Fenton says McDonald's has started developing products that consumers said they want, not items similar to their rivals, Crain's said.
"We've moved from being competition-centric to being consumer-centric," Fenton told Crain's.
