Over nearly a century Disney has exported US culture across the globe, but the company was astonished to find one slice of Americana wildly popular in China -- the turkey leg.
The entertainment giant opened its $5.5 billion theme park in Shanghai in June last year, expecting to shift mainly bok choy, Mickey Pork Buns and Minnie Red Bean Buns to hungry customers.
"If you go to Disneyland or Disneyworld, we sell gigantic turkey legs -- they're like the size of my arm," Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, told reporters on Wednesday.
"And when I heard we were putting them on the menu in Shanghai I thought our group was crazy. Why are we selling turkey legs in China?"
“当我听说上海迪士尼将火鸡腿放在菜单上时,我觉得我们的团队一定是疯了。为什么要在中国卖火鸡腿?”
Iger was quickly proved wrong, however. Glazed in a special Disney-recipe hoi sin sauce, thousands of the turkey legs began selling every day.
然而,很快事实就证明艾格是错的。上海迪士尼每天都能卖掉数千个浇上迪士尼秘制海鲜酱的火鸡腿。
"We were there a few weeks ago for the anniversary and we sold 4,500 in one day. We couldn't buy enough of them," Iger said at a panel for the international press in the company's Burbank, California, studio lot.
Demand for the juicy snack quickly grew to 4,000 units a day in Shanghai alone -- more than Disney's Polish supplier could manage -- and buyers were sent to track down more of the poultry legs in South America.