China.org.cn: According to my knowledge, Quanjude has overseas branches, doesn't it?

J: We have six branch restaurants overseas.

China.org.cn: Does Quanjude have any plans to open more restaurants overseas?

J: We do plan to open more branch restaurants overseas, but not at this time. As a roast duck restaurant, the quality of the duck itself is extremely important. However, the export of Peking ducks (with specific feeding methods for Quanjude roast duck) is currently problematic. Since the outbreak of bird flu, the Chinese mainland has been seen as an infected area, causing duck exports to many countries to be restricted. Under such circumstances, we can only use ducks local to the overseas branch restaurants. But I have to admit that the quality of their local ducks is not as good as the Peking ducks. Therefore, we decided not to open more restaurants overseas before we solve the duck export problem in order to ensure the quality and reputation of Quanjude's roast duck.

We are actively negotiating with many countries right now about the duck export problem. Epidemic prevention has been accomplished very well in Beijing, and all the ducks used by Quanjude are strictly selected. During the Olympic Games, Quanjude's roast duck successfully passed a series of strict examinations and were cleared for consumption. As I believe that the standards of the Olympic Games are not lower than the import restrictions of many countries, we will continue to lobby for the safety of the Quanjude roast duck.

China.org.cn: Quanjude has recently opened a new restaurant on Chinese Gourmet Street at the Shanghai Expo site, hasn't it?

J: Yes. Chinese Gourmet Street has invited the best restaurant from each province of China to open an expansion there. With official confirmation that the special local food of Beijing is roast duck, and as Quanjude best represents it, Quanjude was invited on behalf of Beijing cuisine.

China.org.cn: "Quanjude" was directly translated from Chinese. It's a bit hard for foreigners to pronounce, and its meaning is not clear. Did Quanjude ever try to use an English name?

J: This is a technically difficult problem. We realized that the pronunciation of "Quanjude" is hard for many foreigners and tried to collect suggestions from experts and the public to give Quanjude a new English name. But after many trials, we never did find a name good enough to replace "Quanjude." We didn't want to spend too much time on thinking of a new name, so we focused on strengthening the visual impact of Quanjude instead. We designed a logo of Quanjude that we hope the consumers would recognize as soon as they see it through our marketing activities. It's similar to how some Japanese enterprises have a name, such as Panasonic, that may also not be easy to pronounce, but when people see the logo, they understand what it is.

China.org.cn: According to my knowledge, Quanjude's revenue of the first three quarters this year was very good, up to 870 million yuan. How confident are you in accomplishing your financial goal this year? And can you talk about how business was in the past two years after Quanjude went public?

J: As we are a listed company, I can't tell you the operation statistics in advance. But I'm glad to tell you that, by the end of this year, we will be able to achieve our goal.

While we were planning earlier this year, it was still in the middle of the financial crisis, so it was a rather precarious situation. However, we still formulated a goal in which both the revenue and profits should exceed 2008. In order to achieve this, we made a series of marketing plans early on. Every month of 2009 witnessed important marketing activities, with good results. An unexpected but pleasant surprise was that July and August of this year was even better than last year, which was during the Olympic Games. The positive revenue from July and August created a solid foundation for us to hit this year's target.