KFC in China

Why it’s on the list: Warren Liu was an executive in the business and wrote the account of how KFC became the dominant Western restaurant chain in China — the supply chain built from nothing, the menu localisation, the joint-venture structure, the store economics. A case study of market entry done properly.

Where I heard about it

• Replies to @WillManidis — named in the replies to his question “what is the single best book you can read that will explain an entire industry?”, June 2025. The full set of replies lives on what is the single best book… (tweet).

Connections

• China — the market, and why the entry worked.
• Retail — unit economics and site selection at scale.
• Company Building — localisation as a structural choice, not a marketing one.
• what is the single best book… (tweet) — the thread this recommendation came from.