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In a recent development that may seem like a two-sided sword, 2 of the most famous and notorious American Fast Food Giants make inroads by coming to Bali.

While that would certainly mean more options for fast food and pizza lovers, some might argue also that the original character of Bali might get spoiled even more.

The island is pretty much splattered with foreign franchises already, especially in the over-developed South, where Burger Joints and American(-ized) Fast Food Franchises like McDonalds, A&W, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or KFC are operating outlets in abundance:

So is the plan behind it to increase the weight of the average Indonesian up to western standards, complete Fast Food World Domination or normal expansion in an improving economic climate; not even worth to mention?

The State of the Union…ahem…Fast Food

I remember eating my first Domino’s Pizza in a shabby hotel room in Las Vegas sometime in the early 1990’s. The Berlin Wall had come down a bit earlier and America with all it was worth to us had a strong pull. Never heard of 2-for-1 offers for $9.99 previously.

Traveling with my old buddy Michael through the western states in a bright-blue Toyota Camry; we made use of one of those offers and tried to down those huge wheel-sized pizzas with sixpacks of Budweisers and Coors Light. If I remember correctly, we were completely incapable of moving after and had to spend the rest of the evening watching ‘My So-Called Life’ with Claire Danes and Jared Leto on Hotel TV.

Ahhh, the good old days!

Back to present times, these new developments in Bali are taking place in the Discovery Mall aka Centro aka Kartika Plaza (the name of this mall changed a couple of times over the last 2 years) in Bali’s Tuban area.

This mall features a huge shopping area on 4 levels, combined with Karaoke, Wellness, Bars, sea-side terrace and a traditional Food Court.

You can find here lots of Western Brands for clothing and foods, Coffee Joints like Starbucks, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf or TCC – The Coffee Connoisseur, but also Asian Franchises like ‘Bread Talk’ and ‘Roti Boy’ from Singapore.

Previously hailed Krispy Kreme Donuts seems to have gone out of business in Bali and closed down their outlet of overprized fat-filled and sugar-loaded cake rings in Discovery Mall about half a year back. During the 1990’s, Bali also had some Wendy’s Burger Restaurants, but those were all shut down in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis which occurred in the late years of that decade.

In-house dining or delivery?

Currently, Pizza Hut or Papa Ron’s Pizza offer American-style pizza inhouse and also home delivery in the Southern Kuta/Legian/Seminyak area up to Kerobokan or within Denpasar. Even McDonalds is delivering their popular menu items of questionable quality with their own fleet of motor-bike delivery boys.

On top of that, ‘Bali Hallo!’ is offering delivery service for a fee from a variety of over 20 popular Indonesian and international restaurants, including Burgers and Pizzas, in the more populated tourist areas of the island.

Now – if only Carl’s Junior would open an outlet here as well; because as Singaporeans could find out already – size does matter, right?

The interesting thing about international fast food chains in Asia is that they adopt their menus partially to local customs, like McDonalds is not offering pork-based burgers in Indonesia, but also Nasi- or rice-based dishes or even burgers.

Or Domino’s Pizza doesn’t serve any beef on their pizzas in India. All food items are ‘halal’ of course, a big selling point in muslim-populated countries.

Estimated time table for the opening of BK and Domino’s

The new Burger King outlet would be the first on the island of Bali, although other cities in Indonesia have seen their fair share of them already.

Latest rumors are, that it’s said to be opened still in 2010, the shop installations are progressing pretty fast, as can be seen on the picture to the left.

The new Domino’s Pizza outlet just next to it is still in its early stages of construction – the opening is therefore scheduled for the first quarter of 2011. Stay tuned, if that works out as projected.

So ‘…..BK is from Texas’? Not quite right, Mr. Jay Z!

Maybe your multi-talented wife Beyonce Knowles is – but Burger King will definitely be from Bali soon.

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written by Chris