KFC to sell Tsingtao beer in China?

US fast food giant KFC could be teaming up with Chinese beer company Tsingtao to distribute beer at its outlets in China, Chinese media reports have suggested.

Photos of the special Tsingtao beer bottlings uploaded to Beer Daily

The specially packaged Tsingtao beer series will be sold in Shandong and Henan provinces first, two main markets for Tsingtao beer, Chinese language newspaper Beer Daily reported.

Photos uploaded to Beer Daily showed the beer bottles in red and yellow colours with the Chinese character Fu, meaning blessing in English, and an image of Rooster, symbolising the upcoming Chinese Year of the Rooster in 2017.

The addition of beer onto KFC’s fried chicken menu is expected to help KFC cash in on young Asian consumers’ craze for the fried chicken and beer combo, popularised by the Korean drama My Love from the Star.

Korea’s beer exports to China spiked more than 200% in March 2014 after the TV show was broadcast, with reports of Chinese viewers being hospitalised after binge eating the combo not uncommon.

KFC will join a list of US chains, including McDonald’s and Starbucks, to introduce beer onto their usually non-alcoholic menus.

McDonald’s debuted McBeer in South Korea earlier last year, the first for the fast food chain to sell alcoholic beverage in Asia. Starbucks just recently started selling Espresso Cloud IPA, a beer served with cold-shaken expresso, and other alcoholic beverages mixed with coffee, in Taiwan.