INTERNATIONAL Dairy Queen Inc, a US ice cream chain, will boost its outlets in China by adding 500 stores in the next five years, banking on the potential growth in ice cream consumption by an increasingly affluent population.

The company, controlled by Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, will open the additional restaurants and stands in the period through franchising, said Chuck Mooty, its chief executive officer, in Shanghai yesterday.

"We want to be part of the community and part of the people's daily life here," said Mooty, who came to the city to celebrate the opening of Dairy Queen's 100th restaurant in the country.

The new stores will be located in the 17 cities where it already has a presence and in second-tier cities. Diversifying from its current choice of shopping malls, the new shops will be sited on street sides and near metro stations.

The new restaurants will enable China to be its third-largest market after the United States and Canada.

China is still far behind the United States in ice cream consumption, with an average of 1.2 kilograms per capita a year, five percent of the Americans' level, according to 2005 statistics provided by the company, which cited the figure to show the huge potential of the market still to be tapped.

The company, which entered China in 1992 by opening the first store in Beijing, has accelerated expansion since 2005. Its focus in the past two years has been in east China, where it added 40 stores.

Its expansion has stiffened competition in the market. Haagen-Dazs runs more than 60 stores in China, while local rivals like Bright Food Group have also opened ice cream outlets.