We live in a global era and meet people from various countries and backgrounds in our daily lives. Still, when we hear about an unfamiliar country and its culture, we feel somewhat uncertain and have difficulty understanding it. However, if you learn about each country’s franchises, even unfamiliar countries will be accepted friendly. Knowing the country’s food and finding similarities will make you to understand their cultures better. By exploring the most famous franchises and their features in each country, create opportunities to adapt with diverse cultures!

Chen Saiwen

Department of English Language and Literature

China

Q. What is the most popular dish in your country? What is the most famous franchise for cuisine?

Huoguo, which many Korean enjoy nowadays, was originally a favorite menu for Chinese. The dish, huoguo is a kind of soup in which you put various vegetables, sauces, and meat. There are many huoguo franchises, but I especially enjoy going to “Haidilao”.

Q. Can you describe the characteristics of the franchise?

What is so special about here is, they serve us four pots. There is also more various kinds of soup they serve. There are eight kinds: nothing contained, tomatoes, white, red, spicy, mala, taiyingong, douban, zhongtang, and sanxian. Mala is a strongly addictive spicy sauce, taiyingong is sauce from Thailand, and douban is sauce made of beans. Zhongtang refers to a mushroom soup and sanxian means tofu, mushroom and shrimp-contained soup.

Q. What do you think is the key to the franchise’s success?

The key for the success of Haidilao is obvious. It is the best qualified service. “Haidilao” always conducts surveys in order to enhance the customer services. I was most impressed by its considerable and enthusiastic services. It gives customers snacks and board games while waiting for the meal. It also provides shoe shining and nail polishing for free. In the restaurant, there is a small hospital in case of something urgent happens to customers. It even gives women customers a hair tie to make them comfortable while eating. When it is your birthday, it also gives you cake and celebration performance. Customers are always served iced water, so you can cool down while eating hot dishes. Haidilao always treats customers eye contacted to give them strong trust.

Tusmatova Munavvar

Department of Korean Language and Literature

Tajikistan

Q. Are there any famous franchises in your country that you can recommend?

We do not have many franchises in our country. The only famous one I can tell you about is “SFC Chicken”. This is probably the only famous and existing food franchise in my country. Therefore, you can find this franchise almost anywhere. For example, you can find it in the capital Dushanbe, or in big cities like Hujande.

Q. Is there a particular reason for not having many franchises in your country?

I think it is because our country is just starting to develop. Moreover, one of the reasons why I think there are not so many franchises is, that we do not usually eat outside. In our country we usually eat at home, which is our lifestyle. Even when we visit some franchises, we buy food and take those to our home. This might be the reason why we do not have many franchises. In addition to this, our whole nation’s population is really small, just about nine million or so, which is smaller scale when compared to population of Seoul.

Q. Can you recommend the best menu in SFC Chicken?

As the name of franchise is “SFC Chicken”, it usually sells chicken products. There is also beef pizzas, nuggets and more, but I recommend you “Chicken Burger” the best. It is similar to Korean burgers. It has tomatoes, a bit of salad, mayonnaise, cheese, and a chicken patty inside. This costs about 1,500 won. Another dish I can recommend is the “Hot Dog”. This only costs 1,000 won. It is not something similar to the ones in U.S.A. It serves with much larger bread, and it contains potatoes inside. This is the favorite menu, for both me and my country.

Q. What is the biggest advantage of SFC Chicken?

Our country does not eat pork, due to our religious beliefs. Therefore, we only eat halal dishes or chicken, beef, and lamb. SFC Chicken only serves what we can eat. Therefore, I do not have to worry whether the dish contains pork or not. In addition to this, the prices of the menu are also very reasonable.

Pavel Serwan Amin

Department of Business Administration

Finland

Q. What is the most famous franchise in your country?

“Hesburger” is the most famous franchise in Finland. Unlike McDonalds or Burger King, you can find this franchise only in Finland. You might think “Hesburger” tastes as normal as any other fast food franchises, but I bet the quality is definitely better than others.

Q. What is your favorite menu in Hesburger?

My favorite menu is the “Double Beef Burger” and the “Mega Burger”. The prices for the burger are quite high. Double beef burger costs about 9,000 won, and mega hamburger costs about 11,000 won. The tastes are similar, so I just decide which one to eat depending on my hungry situations. If you eat seasonal or special menus, you must pay at least 12,000 won.

Q. What do you think is the key for the franchise’s success?

The key for the Hesburger’s success is obvious. It of course, tastes good and is easy to go to – since it is located everywhere. However, the main key for success is the “Finnish quality”. Every ingredient in the burger is “locally” sourced. We Finnish consider our ingredients the best in the world, because we have very pure nature. Not only is the ingredients used for the hamburger local, but also the brand itself is from Finland. Therefore, we deeply trust and love the franchise. Though the prices are bit high, I do not feel dissatisfied about it. Hesburger deserves the high price. I am fully satisfied with our nation’s franchise.