With its slogan, a more Chinese menu and lower price, Ronghua made a big splash. In 1992-1993 Ronghua expanded aggressively nationwide and reportedly had sales of 15 million yuan, with daily revenues as high as 119,000 yuan, surpassing KFC and McDonald's in some regions.

But it was short-lived. Ronghua Chicken expanded into Beijing in 1994 but six years later it was forced to shut down all of its stores in the capital because of poor business.

Jiang attributed the failure of Ronghua to "a lack of the kind of well-developed system that KFC possesses which oversees every detail of the business, from making the product, to service, to site, to staff training and management".

Ronghua was not alone in aiming high. Red Chinese Sorghum Mutton Noodle, which competed directly with McDonald's, is another example. In April 1995, a young Henan native, Qiao Ying, opened the first Red Chinese Sorghum store in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou. The 100 square meter store was fixed up to look exactly like a McDonald's.

Business was fairly brisk, with daily sales reaching 10,000 yuan. Within eight months, seven additional stores were opened in the city. In early 1996, Red Chinese Sorghum expanded to Beijing, locating its first store in the Wangfujing district, opposite the world's largest McDonald's store.

Soon thereafter, Red Chinese Sorghum ran short of money as Qiao had been intent on expanding without improving management of the chain. Then Qiao himself was arrested for illegal fundraising.