McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) is moving fast to catch-up in a market where Yum!'s (NYSE: YUM) KFC still holds a comfortable lead: China.
WantChinaTimes said McDonald's is aggressively pushing to get more franchisees up-and-running in China. The company has been organizing promotional events at first-tier cities in the country, like Shenzhen and Shanghai.
Currently, franchised locations only amount to 5 percent of McDonald's total footprint in China and are largely situated in second- and third-tier cities.
Those looking to franchise in China will only take over existing stores, must have around $325,000 in capital, go through up to 10 months of training, and run a store on a full time basis.
With McDonald's looking to double the number of stores open in China to 4,000 over the next three years, getting franchisees started now is critical to achieving that plan.
Shares of McDonald's are down 0.7 percent.
