Fast food chain McDonald’s plans to accelerate its expansion in China by recruiting new franchisees.

The US fast food giant says it is seeking franchisees to open 300 new stores this year. It surpassed 2000 outlets in the market last month.

However, it remains far behind rival KFC which had 4500 branches in more than 900 Chinese cities by the end of last year.

It plans to catch up with KFC by expanding further into lower tier cities.

“We spent 18 years opening 1000 stores in China, but we added another 1000 within five years. In 2013, we opened an additional 270 restaurants, which is a record-breaker for mainland China McDonald’s fastest-expanding market,” said McDonald’s China CEO Zeng Qishan. “We hope to continue with the same pace of expansion.