Dicos

Dicos opened in Chengdu, Sichuan, in 1994, and its Chinese name, 德克士, is a nod to Texas: the chain presents its fried chicken as a Texas-style recipe adapted to Chinese tastes. In 1996 it was bought by the Taiwanese Ting Hsin group, the company behind Master Kong instant noodles, which put 50 million US dollars into rebuilding the brand. It now counts more than 3,000 restaurants and is one of the three biggest Western-style fast-food chains in China, next to KFC and McDonald’s.

Fried chicken is the core of the menu, and the chain treats it seriously: since 2014, on 24 April every year, Dicos restaurants across China close for four hours so staff can retrain on frying. Burgers are mostly chicken, with chicken thigh, crispy fillets and a shrimp patty, and fewer beef options than at its American rivals.

In April 2019 Dicos signed a sponsorship deal with the NBA covering its 2,500 restaurants at the time, and in October it quickly suspended the deal after the Houston Rockets general manager’s tweet about the Hong Kong protests, one of eleven Chinese sponsors to pull back. Outside the mainland it opened in Taiwan in 2013, starting at Taipei 101, and in Hong Kong in 2023.

More than 3,000 restaurants, almost all in mainland China, plus a few in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

• Mom's Touch (South Korea, since 1997). Korea’s chicken burger chain, famous for a whole fried thigh in a bun. Also built on chicken.
• Wallace (China, since 2001). China’s budget fried chicken and burger chain, with more restaurants than KFC. Also built on chicken.
• Wat-a-Burger (India, since 2016). “India ka Burger”: aloo tikki, paneer and tandoori makhani burgers from Noida. Also built on chicken.
• Burger Singh (India, since 2014). Big Punjabi burgers: paneer, mutton and makhani sauce, and no beef. Also built on chicken.