Glocalization 

Before one can learn how fast food restaurants adapt to foreign countries, it’s important to understand the process itself: glocalization. Glocalization is the process in which a globally shared concept (like fast-food restaurants) is not only introduced to different cultures but it’s adapted and changed to fit each culture’s preferences (Simi and Matusitz 2015; Matejowsky 2007). In connection to fast food restaurants, an example of glocalization would be when a US chain is located in a country like Japan and not only serves dishes from the US but dishes that reflect Japanese culture. For example, Figure 1 is an image of the Tsukimi Burger, a burger McDonald’s only sells in Japan as it reflects the importance of the autumn moon season in the country (Khan and Khan 2013). What this shows is that glocalization connects the concepts of globalization and localization, which many would believe are separate from each other. Globalization involves the connection of cultures via shared characteristics, and such characteristics may only be seen in other cultures by being adapted and changed. The two concepts are connected: localization can’t occur without globalization and globalization cannot occur without localization (Simi and Matusitz 2015). The idea that globalization erases aspects of foreign connections may be a misinterpretation because what globalization is doing is allowing cultures to intermingle. Which can lead to the creation of dishes like the tsukimi burger which reflect the collaboration of two cultures.

Altering Aspects of the Restaurant 

When I’m talking about altering aspects of a restaurant, I don’t mean altering the menu as that is a common practice already. What I refer to is when a restaurant makes changes beyond the menu which include iconic aspects of a restaurant. For example, the commercials for Subway in India use a different color scheme compared to the ones in the US. As you can see in Figure 2, instead of the iconic Subway colors of white, green, and yellow; commercials in India use colors like blue, pink, and teal green. The significance of such colors is that they represent the principles reflected in Hinduism, a religion practiced by many in India. The colors in question represent aspects of the mental and psychological self: blue represents the ability to overcome, pink represents bonds and friendship, and green means peace (Simi and Matusitz 2015). By reflecting such principles in their commercials, Subway locations in India are hoping to make citizens of India feel comfortable in a restaurant that’s from a different culture. Doing so, helps customers feel as though the restaurant understands and acknowledges such important themes in their livelihood. 

Even aspects that many restaurants would see as mandatory like operating times are changed in certain areas of the world. For instance, McDonald’s in Saudi Arabia are closed around four times a day in observance of prayer times. Similarly, McDonald’s are not open in the daytime during the month of Ramadan, a month of fasting (Khan and Khan 2013). Even though closing a restaurant during the day may prove to be costly, the willingness to modify an important factor in any businesses demonstrates McDonald’s acknowledgement of the importance of religion in Saudi Arabia. And in doing so, they created a schedule that may seem odd in other areas of the world but seems to be successful for branches in Saudi Arabia. 

In both examples, the restaurants adapted changes that reflected cherished religious principles in each respective country: Hinduism in India and Islam in Saudi Arabia. Even though it may seem odd to do so in other countries, such adaptations proved to be successful in these particular countries because they reflect important cultural principles. Such adaptations not only demonstrate the acknowledgement of each country’s religion, but that the restaurants in question are changing so that they remain respectful of the people they are serving.

Knowing the Clientele Beforehand  

You’d be surprised about the amount of information a restauranteur can learn from the food scene of a country. If enough research is done, one can even learn what dishes or ingredients are likely to be accepted by customers. For instance, a SPAM-based restaurant was met with success in the Philippines thanks to the fascination and high utilization of SPAM in the country. First introduced to the Philippines by the US military during World War 2, SPAM has since been an icon. Not only is it an important source of food for any social class thanks to its easy preparation, Filipinos view it as a representation of how grand American culture is. Many Filipinos are caught-up with American culture because many wish to immigrate there as many hold it in high regard (Matejowsky 2007). Even now, many Filipinos in America send SPAM back to the Philippines in bulk via balikbayan boxes shown in Figure 3. Balikbayan boxes refer to boxes filled with popular goods from the US that Filipinos send back to the Philippines for their relatives (Reyes 2019). SPAM’s popularity in the Philippines as a result of its connection to American culture demonstrates how certain cultures may be more accepting of certain restaurants based on certain ingredients or dishes served. A SPAM-based restaurant may have only found success in the Philippines because Filipino culture has such a strong relationship with SPAM. If it were any other country, such a restaurant may not have been successful.

Of course not all cuisines will be equally adored in a country. In some countries there’s a foreign food hierarchy that one can use to understand what cultures have high prestige among a country’s citizens. Singaporean Hawker Centers, huge food courts, mainly serve Indian, Chinese, and Malaysian dishes as a result of colonial history. This led to other cuisines to experience more difficulty in getting business as many locals have been used to certain cuisines already. However, some cultures were able to find success within these food centers because the citizens of Singapore hold cuisine from places like America, Italy, and France in high regard (Tam 2017). Despite Singapore having a long history of serving specific cuisines for years, certain cuisines rose in popularity because of the widespread influence such cultures have today via media and travel. By opening a restaurant that piques a customer’s interest and sense of what is considered prestigious, one can attract customers to their restaurant immediately and possibly find success. 

Localization 

As said before, when opening chains in a foreign country; restaurants will often make changes to its menu and other aspects. Some changes can help in making customers feel welcome and honored. But even such adaptations need to have limits or the restaurant may become so localized that it’s only reflecting the host country, no longer reflecting its original country’s roots. 

Referring back to glocalization theory, an additional theory that gives more insight to the culture-specific adaptations a restaurant takes is the acculturation theory. According to this theory, the process of assimilating to a new culture involves a combination of maintaining the ethnic identity and forging new relationships with the host country (Hwang et al. 2018). For a restaurant, a balance between the two factors is desired. Because if a restaurant were to only focus on forging new relationships with the host country, it doesn’t give customers a chance to discover new flavors from another culture. A good example would be Japanese-style barbecue. Initially, US culture was disgusted by Japanese flavors. So to facilitate the introduction of Japanese flavors, Japanese-style barbecue was created. By using a cooking style that was very familiar in the US, the Japanese were able to introduce their flavors in a way that was comfortable for US tastes. As a result, Japanese cuisine has become a very popular cuisine here in the US. When introducing new flavors or cuisine in a host country, restaurateurs need to consider serving dishes that reflect both the ethnic identity of the restaurant and the culture of the host country. Such a combination allows customers to have a sense of familiarity while discovering new types of flavors. Eventually, it can lead customers to venture out to more unique flavors in the future. 

In addition, when serving dishes that originate from the host country, a restaurant should be wary of local restaurants because a new restaurant has to be able to stand out or they may end up being compared to local favorites. For example, the Philippines has experienced a growing market of fast food restaurants with international brands like McDonald’s and Pizza Hut becoming quite popular. Despite that, the fast food chain that holds the most shares in the fast food market isn’t an international brand but the Filipino fried chicken chain, Jollibee (Matejowsky 2007). As shown in Figure 4, Jollibee not only beats McDonald’s in popularity but other fried chicken restaurants like KFC. New restaurants need to be mindful of popular dishes in the area not only to understand what customers may like, but to understand what they have to compete with if they want to be successful. If they don’t have any way to compete with restaurants that have been successful for years, then they’re already at a disadvantage.

Avoiding complete localization is key for any new ethnic restaurant in a host country because the goal should be to stand out amongst the local restaurants by introducing new flavors that come from their original culture. If a new restaurant were to serve food exactly like local restaurants, many customers are likely to go to restaurants that have already proven their worth instead of a restaurant that they don’t know much about.

Ignoring Customer Demographic 

Even after finding success in a host country, a restaurant can fail in the long run if they don’t have a consistent source of customers. Thus, the new challenge a restaurant faces is how do you get customers to return. And what better source to find the solution than the customers themselves. If restaurateurs don’t utilize this key source of improvements, they risk falling behind while the customer demographic of the restaurant changes.  

For example, a study in Chicago that focused on Korean restaurants found that customer satisfaction varied depending on the customer demographic a restaurant served. In one finding, married customers reported more satisfaction if the restaurant was clean and sanitized while single customers were satisfied with how convenient and quick the restaurant was (Hwang et al. 2018). This information suggests that even between restaurants that serve similar cuisine, certain changes will occur as a result of each restaurant’s customer demographic. They may focus on different aspects of the restaurants to change with a family-style restaurant focusing more on ensuring the location is clean while a quick and easy restaurant may focus on making sure their customers get their meals in a short amount of time. Even if a restaurant had to change based on the host country they expanded to, such changes may only be the beginning. In order to ensure a constant line of customers every day, it may prove beneficial for a restaurant to understand the customer demographic that comes to their restaurant the most and see how they can appeal to said demographics. 

Fast food restaurants in particular are likely to have many youths of their local community be their main customer demographic. One thing that seems to be common in youths is the desire to to keep busy and explore as many areas as possible. Because of this dynamic lifestyle, many youths may find it difficult to wait so long in a restaurant to get their food. So to appeal to today's youths, some restaurants adapt changes that make getting fast food convenient and easy. For instance, restaurants in India experienced a huge rise in fast food popularity that many started to install self-service kiosks (Simi and Matusitz 2015). Shown in Figure 5, such kiosks allow customers to order their food instead of waiting in line to talk to the cashier. As a result, the customer's wait time is significantly reduced. This works very well for youth communities because since many youths have large friend groups and often are on the go, they’ll be more likely to go to a restaurant that has a short wait time. And if one group likes the restaurant, they are likely to come back with more friends. Which means more business in the future.