Kurt Groetsch @ OldTasty.com

Chinese salad architecture, originally uploaded by Oldtasty.

One of the great things about breaking into an entirely new market is that businesses can upgrade or overhaul their brands, freeing themselves of any impressions that may have taken hold where they already have a presence. This is what Pizza Hut did when they moved into China — they’ve turned themselves into a somewhat upscale chain, even featuring items like escargot on their menu. Another difference is that in the Chinese locations, customers are only allowed one trip to the salad bar, which has resulted in what you see above: absurdly creative constructions designed to take the restaurant for as much as possible. I got these photos back in February when they made the rounds of my office in Beijing, but didn’t think of doing anything with them until this Boing Boing post on salad bar hacking. I’d love to get my hands on the .PDF they’re talking about…

Edit: An editor at an unnamed travel magazine contacted me today asking for permission to reprint the images I have posted over at Flickr. Since I didn’t take them originally, I did a little research and found not only the original post on the Chinese PCPOP BBS, but a couple of other posts featuring Chinese salad creations. This subject continues to amuse…