KFC to leave Beijing's scenic Beihai Park

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

SCMP     Thursday, April 27, 2000

                     Axe to fall on KFC  outlet in park

                ASSOCIATED PRESS in Beijing

                In a new policy to keep foreign fast-food restaurants
out
                of imperial-era parks, Beijing authorities want Kentucky

                Fried Chicken to leave the city's scenic Beihai Park
                when its lease is up in 2002, state media said
yesterday.

                The decision follows complaints from government
                advisers that the outlet in Beihai "destroys the style
of
                the imperial park", said Xinhua.

                The restaurant, adjacent to a traditional stone bridge
                near one of the park's main entrances, was "extremely
                out of harmony with its surroundings", the agency
                quoted Ma Yutian and other members of city branch of
                the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
                as saying.

                Following the complaints, made in a proposal during the
                body's annual meeting, Beijing's parks department
                decided that Kentucky Fried Chicken would not be
                allowed to expand its business in the park and that it
                must leave "without conditions" when its lease expired.
                A department spokesman said no foreign fast-food
                outlets would be allowed in other imperial parks in
                future.

                Tony Chen, a spokesman for Tricon Global
                Restaurants, of Louisville, Kentucky, which owns the
                Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell
                chains, confirmed that the Beihai lease expired in 2002
                but said the firm had not been told it would have to
                move. "It's news to me," he said.

                Kentucky Fried Chicken has 36 outlets in Beijing.