McDonald's has over 960 restaurants and 60,000 employees in China. They continue to expand rapidly as China's population of 1.3 billion is much larger than the U.S. population of 300 million. McDonald's opened its first store in China in 1990 and has since opened many more, including the first drive-thru in 2005. They carefully select store locations in economically developing areas and conduct research on Chinese tastes to adapt their menu for the local market. Food safety is also a high priority given concerns in China.