You might want to grab your "Stars & Bucks" coffee for this one, it's going to be an interesting
ride. China’s copycat culture is well known and it's no secret that they are good at replicating
stuff. Some knockoffs are very good and at first glance, you can't tell the difference.
But this is not always the case, especially when it comes to well-known fast food chains!
Here are 10 hilarious knockoff fast food chains in China.
Mak Dak
China loves the taste of the West. It's new, exciting and a special treat for them to be
able to go eat "Western food". Although there are many knockoff Western fast food chains,
some of them you might be fooled at first glance. So did you think this was a McDonald's?
At second glance Mak Dak is clearly not McDonald's but more like a tribute to Daffy Duck, perhaps
the "happy meals" come with gold coins? China is excellent at replicating, and if there
is a successful business they want to be part of, they make their own version replicating
everything they can from the biggest to the smallest details. McDonald's is in second
place for the top grossing American fast-food chains in China. Not only that but Chinese
people trust American fast food chains, so the replicas might think they can fool people
by luring them in with the same look, feel and similar tastes. How close can they get
the taste to the real thing though? Instead of McD's you have Mak Dak's who's menu include
burgers, fries, nuggets and some kind of replica of the Big Mac. But the most important question
is were they able to get the big mac sauce right?!
KFD and KFG
Sound familiar? KFC — and what comes after C? Oh! D! KFD... then there is KFG. And you
can also find a DFC. These all just use a play on letters to imitate the well-known
food chain KFC. There are so many rip-offs for this popular fast food chain because it
is loved by the Chinese people and is the top-grossing fast food chain countrywide.
All the versions of KFC seem to be just a variation of any combo of three English letters
on the wall. The other knockoff Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets in China include KLC,
FBC, and MFC. They all use the red and white brand colors that KFC uses and have a different
sketched face to accompany the logo. Sometimes the sketch is a fat chicken, other times it's
a Chinese man's face. They offer a menu that includes popcorn chicken and fries just like
the real thing, and of course the signature dish of fried chicken! You can find a KFD
or KFG all over the country!
Cheese Burger
Recognize this logo? Well well well if it isn't the Burger King logo, but instead for
a place called Cheese Burger. How can you really change this restaurant down to just
one menu item... the cheeseburger? After all, they do have a lot more on the menu than that! Perhaps
the Chinese people really love cheeseburgers? Or maybe the founder really loved cheeseburgers
from the real Burger King and thought about starting their own version featuring just
the one menu item? However you want to explain this one, this is our best guess! But the
real story behind this Burger King knockoff is that fast-food Western burger joints are
very well-liked in China, but unfortunately, they are mostly only available in big and
well-known cities. So, the cities in between don't get as much fast food options, and hence
these rip off versions started to pop up. They look the same, taste the same and therefore
generate quite a bit of traffic into their locations. It might not be the same quality
of a real Whopper meal but something is better than nothing, right?
7 Twelve
From identical branding and logo to the small size convenience store, this knockoff can
easily be mistaken for a 7 Eleven. If you are sleepwalking or had a few drinks you might
not even know the difference. 7 Eleven is a Japanese owned international chain of convenience stores
and there have been many replicas popping up all over Asia. Well thought out replicas
like this one think of every detail of the original brand, just the names have been slightly
changed. Why not 7 twelve? 7 thirteen and 7 fourteen are surely not far behind! You
can also find a 7 "apple" in China but this knockoff is not as great as 7-twelve because
they use Apple's logo in place of 7 eleven’s, making it more obvious that it's not the real
deal. 7-Eleven really started to boom a few years back in China because people liked the
idea of easy, quick, grab and go items and started to stop by for daily snacks and even
home staples or hot meals. The knockoff version also provides the same sorts of items for
quick on the go convenience like sandwiches, pop drinks, candy and snacks like chips or
vacuum sealed chicken feet.
Taco Bell Grande
Taco Bell goes up a size to "Grande". Just kidding it's only the knockoff version of
Taco Bell except that this knockoff is like an upscale version where the logo and restaurant
look nothing like the real one, and the menu consists of items like tacos, fajitas, smoked
salmon and oxtail soup. The staff are friendly and wear sombreros, you can order different
Mexican dishes and listen to a mariachi band (off of a playlist, but still). The service
is much better than your local taco bell— this is one knockoff food chain that really
did it right and seems to have more success than the original version of Taco Bell, who
didn't do so well in China. Taco Bell Grande offers a complimentary bowl of chips and
salsa upon being seated, and this on its own makes it worth the visit! The founders of
this knockoff were looking to find the recipe for success with Mexican food in China by
making it an upscale, full service, sit-down restaurant and providing great customer experience
and great food. For the average American, Taco Bell is a place with fast food when you
don't have a lot of time or want something cheap yet tasty. Taco Bell Grande is one of
the best knockoffs because they went above and beyond the genuine one to make it a restaurant
people line up to go to, with a detailed, bilingual menu and very "Mexican" feeling
decor. It seems the secret to a successful knockoff fast food chain is including not
only the original menu but also items that are familiar to the Chinese palate.
Dairy Fairy
Welcome to Dairy Fairy where instead of a Blizzard you can get an oreo "Ice Storm". By
the looks of the menu, the fake Dairy Queen is also accompanied by a fake Orange Julius
as well. There are a number of Dairy Queen look-a-likes globally but it seems as though
Dairy Fairy in China is really taking it to the next level by trying to become a fast
food chain of their own! With several locations in China, they have even spread to South Africa!
Dairy Fairy is known in China to be a popular brand of soft serve ice cream along with their
various other ice cream menu items. They also have their cups labeled "DF," which is exactly
what "DQ" does on their cups, and all the employee uniforms are pretty much the same.
The Chinese copycat brand's slogan is "the taste of California". It is clear that the
logo, style, and the general brand idea is from Dairy Queen. They can't fool us by changing
a few colors and menu names like the Ice Storm but they seem to be fooling others considering
they are doing pretty well. There is also another imitation of Dairy Queen but they
call themselves Dairy & Queen, isn't that original?
Pizza Huh
Some might say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery because they clearly like
what you are doing and you're doing it well. Although for many international companies
in China imitation is the opposite of flattery and they need to constantly protect themselves
from counterfeiters. All these companies do it the smart way, they change the name a little
bit or in some cases by one letter and keep the branding almost identical. Hence the birth
of eateries like "KFG", "Cheese Burger", "Dairy Fairy" and "Pizza Huh". You might see this
and ask "Pizza what?... Huh?" Yes, we’re thinking the same, where did Pizza Hut go?
It turned into "Pizza Huh", same logo, same menu, the same layout just with the change
of one letter! Pizza Huh made no effort to be original in their signage and they went
for a look as similar to Pizza Hut as possible. It is located in a mall, which is dedicated to
knockoff stores and restaurants. They could have changed any letter in the name, it really
didn’t matter. So instead of Pizza Huh it could have been Pizza But or Pizza Gut or
even Pizza Tut - the Egyptian themed Pizza Hut. Actually that last one sounds more like
something for Vegas.
Bucksstar Coffee or Sunbucks Coffee
Bucksstars, Sunbucks, Bucks and Stars or USA bucks, are all nothing but a ripoff Starbucks!
They really do a solid job with knocking off this world-famous coffee chain, from the logo
and branding, right down to the printed take-out cups and menu. The Starbucks look-alike named
‘Bucksstar Coffee’ has it down to the logo and branding to look very much like those
of genuine Starbucks. Want to know the funny part about some of these knockoff chains,
specifically Bucksstars or Bucks and Stars? It actually was not designed to cater to
city residents but rather to the tourists. They were hoping tourists would look for the
familiar green mermaid knockoff logo for some comfort and caffeine. They offer similar items
to what is on the Starbucks menu, from the basics of a latte or muffin to frappucinos.
Bucksstar Coffee is located in the middle of a "knockoff" mall and received some complaints
that people were being easily deceived by the mimicry, thinking they were getting the
real Starbucks when they were not. This might have started a little bit of trouble for the
brand especially since they haven't posted on their Twitter account since May 2014. On
Twitter, they were posting images of the real Starbucks logo and tweeting that they were
serving Starbucks lattes! They even tweeted “we will be selling Starbucks lattes and Voodoo
Donuts”. Seems a little sketchy... and many people did not like this a latte.
OFC (KFC)
If you thought there was enough KFC knockoffs with ripped off menus you were wrong, there's
more. China made another KFC ripoff in Beijing and called it “OFC,” for “Obama Fried
Chicken.” Needless to say, this got a lot of attention and was considered offensive
so they changed the name again to "UFO" later on. They used the same colors, font, style,
and menu but this time instead of targeting Obama they went for aliens. "Yes, I'll get
the alien fried popcorn chicken, please and the galactic fries with that". Why are there
so many KFC rip-offs in China though? There are tons of different variations of the knockoff
for this fast-food chain. Well, before 1987, China was closed off to the rest of the world,
and then, KFC was the first American fast-food chain to open in China. So, when KFC came
in they went wild for it! It was the first Western food they had access to and many Chinese
consumers prefer chicken over other meats like beef or pork. It quickly became not only
popular but China's favorite fast food joint. The original KFC has over 5,000 locations
and in 2017 they made $5 billion in revenue. It is no wonder that others wanted a piece
of this success and wealth, so they started to knock it off in hopes of the same success
and to maneuver customers to the false KFC by using similar logos, the same color scheme,
and menu items.
Michael Alone
This version of McDonald's in China has replicated the golden arches and turned them upside down.
It’s hard to know what the inspiration here was. The upside down arch makes us think of
WcDonald’s, a popular fictional version of the McDonald’s franchise, seen in a lot
of anime. But what’s with the name Michael Alone? Maybe the founder was inspired after
watching the movie Home Alone? Or maybe it's in memory of Michael Jackson? After all, he
did sing ‘You Are Not Alone’. Perhaps "the founder" of this restaurant was going
for something comforting and familiar? The slogan could be "you are not alone, there
is fast comfort food for you". They even have a fake "Ronald McDonald" mascot out in front
with the same look, logo, and similar menu as the original McD's. Ironically, the restaurant
does look kind of lonely with no customers inside. Maybe this is because you can tell
from the terrible name that it's a ripoff Mickey D's. But if not for the Michael Alone
name, the restaurant easily could be mistaken for a real McDonald’s! From the red and
yellow color scheme to the decor and menu, we wonder if it tastes anything like the real
McD's. Hopefully they got their crispy fries right at the very least.
Go ahead and tap that screen to enjoy another one of our great videos. Are you new to our
channel? Then show us some love by hitting that subscribe button and ringing that notification
bell.