McDonald’s, through its official Weibo account, confirmed on Wednesday evening that it has changed its Chinese company name from “Maidanglao” (麦当劳) to “Jingongmen,”(金拱门) or “Golden Arches.”
■ McDonald’s announced its name change on Wednesday evening. /via Weibo
The fast food chain, however, clarified that it "only changed its registered name" but that all stores would continue their service under the familiar Chinese brand name "Maidanglao" (the Chinese pinyin translation of the English word McDonald).
The clarification was made after earlier reports about the change have triggered heated discussion and confusion among Chinese netizens -- many of whom think the new name is old-fashioned or sounding more like a traditional Chinese restaurant, while some wonder whether the old name will still be used in its stores in China.
"Jingongmen sounds like a name for a Peking duck restaurant or a traditional Chinese medicine store," said one netizen.
■ “Golden Arches” set meal
■ Some netizens also said it sounds like a name of night club.
"The name change was made to meet 'the needs of business development' after the fast food chain sold a bulk of its China and Hong Kong operations to financial conglomerate CITIC Group and American investment company Carlyle Capital in January."
■ Record shows McDonald’s China Co. changed its company name to “Jingongmen Co.” on Oct 12. /The Paper Photo
Changes of
Industrial & Commercial Registration
There are three reasons for business change: business combination, corporate separation and corporate organizational change.
■ National enterprise credit information publicity system
According to the corporation Law, if the matters recorded in the business license of the Company are changed, the company shall go through the alteration registration according to law and renew the business license by the company registration authority.
The Company's business license sets out the name, domicile, registered capital, paid-in capital, business scope and legal representative name of the company. Therefore, the above-mentioned changes are deemed to be "Changes of Industrial & Commercial Registration".
500 new restaurants / year
After the acquisition, McDonald's China announced its “Vision 2022” which will help the fast food chain increase its stores from 2,500 to 4,500 on the Chinese mainland in the next five years.
By then, about 45 percent of all McDonald's outlets will be located in third- and fourth-tier cities, and 500 new restaurants are expected to be opened on annual basis, much higher than the present expansion speed of 250 new chains per year.
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HACOS,Business Services Solutions Master