Legacy Peking duck brand adapts to changing tastes

When China was hit by bird flu a few years ago, Quanjude began to create new dishes, such as roast shellfish and lobster, to provide more choices for customers.

Before the reforms and opening-up of the 1970s, food was in short supply and people tended to have fatty meat, while today leaner meat is popular.

"We prolong the roasting time to let the duck fat melt to make it healthier," Wu said.

In order to take advantage of the e-commerce boom in China, Quanjude Group launched an online shop at tmall.com two years ago, and its sales have grown steadily.

The online shop sells roast ducks in gift sets as well as other duck products, cakes and snacks. Total online sales of roast ducks have reached 65,379 since the e-commerce site was launched.

"E-commerce is a trend in future sales, no matter if an enterprise is old or new," said a Quanjude marketing employee surnamed Liu.

Roast duck has become a symbol of Beijing and China.

Beshad Pajman from Iran eats at roast duck restaurants every time he visits Beijing. "The taste is special and watching the duck get sliced beside my table really makes me feel valued," he said.

In 2014, chefs from Quanjude served roast duck to nearly 700 guests at the national banquet in the Water Cube. The chefs also performed a live demonstration on cutting Peking duck.

Quanjude has five overseas franchise restaurants, including one in Melbourne, Australia that opened in 2008. They overseas branches use local ducks and ingredients as live poultry exports are forbidden.

"Next, we will inspect conditions in Italy and try to open more branch restaurants if possible," said Wu.

Zhou Huaishan, CEO of the China Time-honored Brand website, said that heritage brands like Quanjude inherit Chinese traditions and market local customs, which can boost tourism.

"They must be innovative and seize the opportunity of the Internet for greater development," he added.