For many tourists, a trip to Beijing would not be complete without climbing the Great Wall, watching Peking Opera and eating Peking roast duck at "Quanjude". Arguably the best-known restaurant brand in China, the 142-year-old Quanjude was founded by a cunning businessman, Yang Quanren, during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Renting and renovating a fruit and confectionery shop alongside Tian'anmen Square in 1864, Yang named the restaurant Quanjude and hired a chef who had prepared roast duck for the emperor's court, whose techniques made the restaurant a runaway success.

The date May 20, 1993 witnessed the launch of Beijing Quanjude Group, a company with three flagship stores in Beijing's busiest shopping areas and over 60 franchised restaurants in China. Besides its roast duck specialty, Quanjude has developed banquet menus of over 400 new dishes.

Building on its illustrious history, the group is now gearing up for the future, with its eyes trained on the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

"During the 2008 Olympics, Peking roast duck will be available at every dining hall of the Olympic stadiums, athletes' village and media center," said Jiang Junxian, President of Beijing Quanjude Group.

He said the company will tailor its products for the Olympics to meet an international standard. "We have adopted new technologies and new production lines to meet the food safety standards of the European Union," said Jiang.

He said to meet the demands of Olympic tourists who might want to bring home roast ducks as gifts, his company has developed vacuum-packaged roast duck and is making sure that it will maintain its original flavor after being reheated. He said eight types of vacuum-packaged duck delicacies, including liver and heart, have hit the market and by the 2008 Olympic Games over 20 kinds will be available.

Some of Quanjude's franchised locations have already begun to highlight an Olympic theme for promotion. A Quanjude restaurant near the Olympic Village recently named its 18 private dining rooms in honor of the 18 host cities of the Olympics and decorated them with posters for the Games. This restaurant has also designed new dishes to fit the Olympic theme, including a cold dish of vegetables cut in the shape of the Olympic rings.

Upgrading for the future

Other time-honored cuisine brands are following Quanjude's lead.

They are closing down their plants in downtown districts and moving them to an Olympic food production base in Beijing's northern suburb of Shunyi. Completed on November 26, the base covers an area of 8.67 hectares, with an investment of 200 million yuan from Beijing Er Shang Group.

"The base will commit itself to developing new products to cater to the demands of foreign athletes and guests, especially food as gifts and souvenirs," said Sun Jie, President of Beijing Er Shang Group.

Almost every time-honored brand has a story behind it. Wangzhihe, the 330-year-old condiment brand, is no exception. In 1669, Wang Zhihe from central Anhui Province, traveled over 1,000 miles to Beijing for the imperial examination. Having failed the exam, Wang began to make tofu for a living.

By accident, at the end of one day he put the leftovers in a jar and opened it months later. To his surprise, the fermented tofu in the jar became a highly flavored delicacy. Wang invented a "secret recipe" based on this coincidence, which is still strictly followed by modern tofu makers.

However, the production lines of these old brands have been modernized in the new base. For example, the 500-year-old pickle brand Liubiju has changed its containers from porcelain jars to stainless steel containers, which can increase the production scale and shorten the production cycle without sacrificing the authentic flavor.