2004 Annual Meeting - Abstract

Global Tastes, Local Contexts: An Ethnographic Account of Fast Food Market Expansion in San Fernando City, the Philippines

Ty Matejowsky, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
University of Central Florida
Brevard Campus
1519 Clearlake Road
Cocoa, FL 32922
(321) 632-1111 ext. 65625 (phone)
321-690-2114 (fax)
tmatejow@mail.ucf.edu

ABSTRACT: Possibly the most conspicuous and widespread manifestation of global consumer culture is the seemingly ubiquitous fast food restaurant. Its sleek design, distinctive menu, and standardized style of service has an appeal that resonates with millions the world over. These enterprises have become powerful agents in the spread of mass consumerism and Western values (Schlosser 2001:225-54; Stolicna 2000). Their proliferation not only transforms traditional notions of service, taste, and lifestyle, it also radically alters the architectural character of urban environments.

As a topic of social scientific research, the literature on fast food is growing (Jing 2000; Ritzer 1998; Ritzer 2001). Much attention has been given to the social and cultural impact chain restaurants have on local populations within non-Western societies (Watson 1997). Yet, little has focused on how these operations first arise within developing contexts. In most cases, the opening of a multinational fast food eatery at the community level does not occur without some degree of local receptivity. Dealings between outside corporate interests and local entities create a compelling framework for investigating matters of how the dual processes of globalization and localization interface and how they influence development and change within particular settings.

This paper provides an ethnographic account of (1) how fast food companies penetrate developing markets and (2) how their efforts are facilitated and modified at the municipal level. Specifically, it examines the burgeoning fast food scene in San Fernando City, the Philippines. Information collected through intensive interviews, participant-observation, and other field methods adds ethnographic depth to a process that is rapidly transforming communities worldwide.

In the spring of 1997, three of the nation’s most popular restaurant chains (Chowking, Jollibee, and McDonald’s) opened outlets in and around San Fernando’s central business district. These ventures represented the leading edge of what would become an enhanced trend of retail modernization in the downtown commercial core. Significantly, their entry into local commerce was not implemented strictly as a top-down strategy from international firms based in Metro-Manila and beyond. Rather, it came about largely through the efforts of local ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs, the provincial Catholic diocese, and several politically influential Filipino merchants. These groups were instrumental in attracting and guiding fast food developments in San Fernando. This was accomplished through securing franchise operations, cultivating personal connections with company representatives, and adapting standard fast food management/service models to fit local conditions.

Essentially, this work examines the logistics of how fast food companies establish themselves in the provincial regions of less developed countries. In documenting the respective experiences of Chowking, Jollibee, and McDonald’s in San Fernando, details of chain expansion and the influence of local interests over transnational processes become more fully understood. Research findings suggest that, while the hegemony of the fast food industry is considerable, there are other forces helping drive market expansion in developing areas. Local entities can and do influence the efforts of multinational corporations in establishing new types of consumer innovations at the community level.

References Cited

Jing, Jun (ed.)
2000 Feeding China's Little Emperors: Food, Children, and Social Change. Stanford University Press.

Ritzer, George
1998 The McDonaldization Thesis. London: Sage Publications.

2001 Explorations in the Sociology of Consumption: Fast Food, Credit Cards and Casinos. Sage Publications.

Schlosser, Eric
2001 Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Houghton Mifflin Co.

Stolicna, Rastislava
2000 “Fast Food: the Global Phenomenon of Today’s Eating Habits and Lifestyle.” Slovensky Narodopis 48:305-13.

Watson, James (ed.)
1997 Golden Arches East: McDonald’s in East Asia. Stanford University Press.