I've been in China a long time now, and I'm having a hard time reconciling this with any reality I've observed so far.

Chinese people, at least the younger generations, don't mind trying our food, but very few of them eat it on a regular basis...at least anything other than KFC and perhaps pizza. They are very proud and very chauvinistic about their food here, and the Chinese on the broad scale are quite possibly the least gastronomically adventurous people on the planet. Those people who still haven't sampled Western foods haven't necessarily done so for lack of opportunity...in many cases they simply don't want to know.

The ubiquitous "western-style" coffee restaurants in China crank out steaks and spaghetti so altered for local tastes that most Westerners won't claim them. A careful look will reveal to you that the big sellers in many of these places are the set meals of Chinese food. Even with that, many of these places aren't very successful...lots of empty tables and idle workers.

Successful restaurants with real western food that we would recognize tend to work only in places with an expat community large enough to support them. These restaurants run a constant tightrope of buying expensive imported ingredients, and trying to maintain a staff who can speak English, provide decent customer service, and sort of understand the food they serve.

How exactly does one decorate a restaurant with "the ESL angle"? Conjugate verbs on the walls?

Sure, Internet Marketing is indeed in its infancy in China's domestic market. But I suggest that this has little to do with imagination or awareness or know-how...this is one of the world's most internet-savvy nations. It probably has a LOT to do with the fact that almost no one here has a credit card, making it hard for people to shop online. International internet marketing, on the other hand, comes with a prohibitive shipping cost unless you are selling high-priced luxury goods or can sell on a very large scale.

Look, yes, there is a lot of opportunity here. Do look into the possibilities of doing some business here if you are properly inclined and equipped. It will take money and hard work and luck....just as it will anywhere else. It takes a knowledge of the highly elaborate, slippery, and corrupt systems of laws, regulations, and taxes. And it takes a Chinese partner you can trust...which is NOT a given. I know several cases of foreigners helping start up a western restaurant, and seeing it succeed, only to have the local partners force them out in the cold once that local partner had learned the business...leaving the foreigner with no business, no compensation, and no meaningful legal recourse. China is a GREAT place for naive foreigners to have their backsides handed to them. It's even happened to the pros.

So please DON'T think that Zhou Baijiu (The Chinese "Joe Sixpack") is lining up to eat our food often. He isn't. It will take a lot of persuasive marketing and a lot of patience to get him there, if ever you will. And DON'T think that starting a real business here is something you can sail into easily and cheaply and quickly. It isn't.

And by all means DON'T think that the Chinese need us to come in here and teach them to be entrepreneurial and innovative in business. They don't. Believing so would be cultural arrogance of the lowest and most ignorant kind...so I'm sure no one here would do it.

Raoul (B.Sc., B.Sc., MBA)
Raoul's China Expat Saloon
http://chinateachers.proboards17.com
Nate's China School Review
http://www.chinaschoolreview.net