"The clerk said that their company's regulations do not allow them to drive customers away," Zhang Qicheng said with a smile.
Xiang Yang was shocked after hearing this, "KFC actually has such a rule?"
"Really? KFC never chases people away, no matter what kind of person they are." Zhang Qicheng said with a smile.
"When I was a child, my family was poor and lived in a remote area. I worked part-time to pay for my studies in college. After I became rich, I lost interest in these things. To be honest, I have never eaten this kind of Western fast food since I was a child."
"But if that's true, it's still worthy of praise." Xiang Yang nodded.
"Yes, that winter I was desperate and had nowhere to live, so I stayed in a corner of KFC for more than ten days. A clerk in their store at that time poured me a cup of hot water every night." Zhang Qicheng said with a smile.
"I know why you want to eat the hamburger. It's not because it tastes good, but because you are kind." Xiang Yang said.
Zhang Qicheng grinned, "KFC's business philosophy is not to chase away the downtrodden. Everyone has a day of suffering. They suffered one day earlier, and tomorrow it may be us. We should extend our gratitude to others for their efforts."
"Don't think that I am in a good position now, but you never know, I may need this safe haven again." Zhang Qicheng laughed.
Xiang Yang nodded and fell into deep thought.
What Zhang Qicheng said might be true.
Maybe he said it on purpose for Xiang Yang to hear.
But no matter what, Xiang Yang felt that this should be the reason why junk food could become infinitely large, and it is worth Xiang Yang's study.
While he was thinking about it, Zhang Qicheng had already parked his car on the parking lot of a hotel opposite a large supermarket.
A well-dressed doorman immediately ran over from the hotel and asked, "Sir, do you need any help?"
Zhang Qicheng waved his hand and said, "I'm not staying at the hotel. I'm just going to buy something across the street. I'll be gone in a few minutes."
The doorman still had a smile on his face. "Then I wish you a happy time, sir, and all the best."
Zhang Qicheng smiled and nodded, then walked across the street with Xiang Yang. "Cars are meant to be seen by others. If I wasn't driving this Alpha, but an ordinary commuter car, the doorman wouldn't even look at us."
Xiang Yang didn't say anything. He was looking at the KFC restaurant across the street.
The KFC store is on the left side of the first floor of the supermarket.
What Xiang Yang found a little strange was that there was a McDonald's next to the KFC restaurant.
"Although I have never eaten this stuff, but if I remember correctly, the things sold by these two shops are similar. They are so close to each other, won't they fight?" Xiang Yang said jokingly.
"If a fight breaks out, then the two families will just fight every day. There are nine McDonald's next to ten KFCs, and there must be at least nine KFCs next to ten McDonald's." Zhang Qicheng said.
McDonald's and KFC, the happy enemies, always appear together.
It seems that wherever there is a McDonald's, there is always a KFC nearby, just as wherever there is a Coca-Cola, there is always a Pepsi.
Although they are competitors, they also seem like a couple that will never leave each other.
It is said that there cannot be two tigers in one mountain. If two restaurants with similar products are opened next to each other and have a common consumer group, it will easily lead to vicious competition.
As two giants in the catering industry, McDonald's and KFC cannot possibly be unaware of such a simple truth.
There is actually a reason why they have often opened near each other over the years, and it involves a lot of very complex economic knowledge.
Simply put, it can be summarized as lower site selection costs.
Geographical location plays a vital role in the operation of physical stores.
Many times, just a difference of one street or one corner can result in several times difference in the flow of people, and business will naturally be affected.
Take McDonald's as an example. When it chooses to open a new store at a certain location on a street in the city center, it will inevitably conduct a thorough and detailed investigation of factors such as the flow of people, business district, and transportation near this location to ensure that the store is suitable and profitable.
In this case, for the later KFC, the process of reselecting a location on this street would be cumbersome and costly, but if there was a McDonald's on this street, it would be a ready-made answer.
The closer to McDonald's, the closer to the optimal location, saving time and effort.
As we all know, getting something for free is the happiest thing, but in fact, getting something for free is also a very important lesson in economics.
The second is the business district effect.
This is a little difficult to explain.
To give a simple example, many restaurants in shopping malls are usually concentrated in a certain area or on a certain floor. In addition to facilitating management, it actually also involves the business district effect.
When many people get hungry after shopping, the question they usually think about is where there are restaurants, rather than specifically where there are McDonald's or KFCs.
At the same time, due to concerns that a particular restaurant may be very popular or there may be no seats available, people are more inclined to go to places where there are many restaurants. If the one they want to eat at is not available, at least there are other options.
This effect is also reflected in McDonald's and KFC opening next to each other.
In fact, McDonald's and KFC are actually a small business district, which will give potential customers the impression that there is food nearby. When people want to find a restaurant next time, they may go to the area where they gather.
With the flow of people, there is naturally no need to worry about lack of business. The two companies have reached a tacit win-win agreement in this regard.
The last point is the result of the game.
Game theory refers to two people in an equal game, each using the other's strategy to change their own confrontational strategy to achieve the goal of winning. The most famous of these is the prisoner's dilemma.
Since McDonald's and KFC have similar products and similar consumer groups, there is naturally confrontation and competition.
The application of game theory in this process is that we can first regard them as the same restaurants, and customers have no specific brand preference. The only criterion is to go to the one that is closest to them.
For example, on this street now, there is KFC on the left and McDonald's on the right, and many customers are evenly distributed on this road.
When McDonald's and KFC occupy one end of the street respectively, they can each get half of the customers within the road, while for the customers standing in the middle, it doesn't matter which side they go.
However, it is difficult to maintain a balance in this kind of two-party game and then divide the market equally. There will always be one party that wants to occupy more market share, while the other is bound to reduce some market share.