洋快餐在中國市場"消化不良"

One month after the expired-meat scandal that dented the sales and reputation of western fast food in China, office worker Arthur Han contentedly chews his burger and proclaims that now is the best time to eat at McDonald’s in China – while the heat is still on from the food safety authorities.

導致西方快餐在華聲譽和銷售額下滑的“過期肉”醜聞曝光一個月後，辦公室職員阿瑟•韓(Arthur Han)在麥當勞(McDonald's)餐廳裏愜意地嚼着漢堡，稱現在是在中國吃麥當勞的最佳時機，因爲食品安全管理部門仍對這家美國漢堡連鎖店保持着強大壓力。

Mr Han says he does not normally eat at the US burger chain, whose brand image for cleanliness and quality was shaken last month by an undercover television investigation that accused it and several other western fast-food companies including Yum Brands and Burger King of using a mainland supplier thatrelabelled expired meat.

韓先生說，他並不是麥當勞的常客。上月，一個臥底調查電視節目動搖了麥當勞以清潔和質量著稱的品牌形象。該調查節目聲稱，麥當勞以及包括百勝餐飲集團(Yum! Brands)和漢堡王(Burger King)在內的另幾家西方快餐公司，從一家將過期肉更換標籤再銷售的中國內地供應商那裏進貨。

In a country where food safety is one of the biggest political issues, the $200bn fast-food industry has been propelled again into the spotlight. The latest issue comes as the rapidly growing sector is grappling with a host of other issues. These include escalating competition from local players; rising rents; labour shortages – and the fundamental difficulty of procuring safe supplies in a market that is both fragmented and growing rapidly.

在中國，食品安全是最重要的政治問題之一，這也使總值達到2000億美元的快餐業再次被推到聚光燈下。除了這起最新事件，這個快速發展的行業還在努力解決其他很多問題。這些問題包括：中國本土快餐企業構成的日益激烈的競爭，不斷上漲的租金，用工短缺，以及在一個既碎片化又快速發展的市場裏採購放心原料的根本性難題。

McDonald’s said this month that the scandal – which led Shanghai authorities to close down the affected factory of Shanghai Husi Food Co, a subsidiary of US food group OSI, and detain staff – initially had a“significant negative impact” on sales, though it could not estimate the outcome for the full year.

這起醜聞促使上海主管部門查封了受影響的上海福喜食品有限公司(Shanghai Husi Food)的工廠。上海福喜是美國福喜集團(OSI)的子公司。麥當勞本月表示，這起醜聞最初對其銷售額造成了“顯著的負面影響”，儘管其無法估算出對全年業績的影響。

Yum said its brands KFC and Pizza Hut also saw sales drop initially, adding that if the decline persists it could have a “material effect” on full-year earnings per share. But analysts say that, whatever the impact on western brands, it is unlikely local players will be able to mop up the leftovers.

百勝表示，旗下品牌肯德基(KFC)和必勝客(Pizza Hut)最初也發生了銷售額下降的情況。它補充稱，如果這種下滑持續下去，可能對全年每股盈利(EPS)造成“實質性影響”。但分析師表示，不管這起醜聞會對西方品牌造成什麼影響，中國本土的快餐企業都不大可能從中撈到好處。

Food safety “is not just something that affects McDonald’s and KFC, they are just the best known”, says Torsten Stocker, partner at consulting firm AT Kearney. “If it’s a problem they are facing, why would others be any different?”

食品安全“不止影響麥當勞和肯德基，它們只不過是最有名的”，諮詢公司科爾尼(AT Kearney)的合夥人唐仕德(Torsten Stocker)說。“如果它們現在面臨這樣的問題，其他企業又有何分別呢？”

Many diners seem to realise that western brands are not the only ones with a problem: one young office worker eating lunch at a local fast-food outlet this week displayed a length of wire that he had just pulled out of his meal and told the Financial Times that the only solution was to “ignore it”.

許多用餐者似乎明白並不是只有西方品牌有問題：上週，一名在中國本土快餐店吃午飯的年輕辦公室職員向英國《金融時報》記者展示了一根他剛從午飯裏擇出來的金屬絲，並告訴記者唯一的解決辦法就是“無視它”。

That, say observers, speaks to the issue of suppliers. Most of China’s half a million food processors are far too small or unsophisticated to serve enormous and exacting clients such as the foreign chains.

觀察人士表示，這暴露出了供應商的問題。中國的50萬家食品加工商中，絕大部分規模太小或太缺乏經驗，不適合爲外資連鎖餐廳等既龐大又要求嚴格的客戶服務。

Analysts say suppliers have failed to keep up with expansion in the sector, with companies such as Dicos increasing its restaurant numbers by 40 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with last year, to 2,200 stores.

分析師稱，供應商未能跟上快餐業擴張的腳步。以德克士(Dicos)爲例，該公司今年第一季度門店數量同比增長40%，達到2200家。

Hence a string of scandals have shaken the faith of China’s twenty- and thirtysomething white-collar workers. Brands such as Yum’s KFC in particular have been hit by one highly publicised supplier scandal after another; Yum sales had just begun to recover from a 2012 scare over antibiotics in chicken, when the expired-meat scandal broke last month.

因此，一連串的醜聞已經動搖了中國二三十歲白領的信心。肯德基等品牌尤其受到一個接一個被大肆曝光的供應商醜聞的衝擊；百勝的銷售額剛剛開始從2012年禽肉濫用抗生素引起的恐慌中恢復，上月就又曝出了“過期肉”醜聞。

And problems with food quality have also coincided with other trends that have challenged western fast-food brands, industry analysts say.

行業分析師表示，食品質量問題冒出來之際，其他潮流也對西方快餐品牌構成了挑戰。

“Fast-food consumers in China have shifted away from their original curiosity about western fast food, and nowadays they are pickier and more focused on health,” says Shi Jun, catering industry analyst at Beijing-based Alliance PKU Management.

“中國的快餐消費者已不再像最初那樣對西方快餐感到好奇，現在他們更挑剔、更關注健康，”總部位於北京的北大縱橫管理諮詢公司(Alliance PKU Management)的餐飲業分析師史俊說。

“Twenty years ago, a McDonald’s or a KFC might have been one of the few locations in some towns that had air conditioning and a clean bathroom, but now there are lots more alternatives; competition has greatly increased,” says Shaun Rein, of China Market Research Group in Shanghai.

“20年前，麥當勞或肯德基餐廳可能是某些城鎮少數幾個有空調和乾淨廁所的地方，但現在有很多別的選擇；競爭大幅增加了，”上海中國市場研究集團(China Market Research)的雷小山(Shaun Rein)說。

KFC remains far and away the market leader with 4,600 outlets, more than double the 2,000 McDonald’s. But Dicos – a Taiwanese-owned fast-food chain strongest in lower-tier cities, with cheaper menus – recently eclipsed the US burger chain with 2,200 stores. It plans to have nearly 3,000 by the end of the year.

肯德基在中國的門店有4600家，數量比擁有2000家門店的麥當勞多出一倍多，是這個市場遙遙領先的領跑者。但餐品更爲便宜、在較小城市勢力最強的臺資快餐連鎖店德克士，最近以2200家門店的數量超過了麥當勞。德克士計劃在今年年底前將門店增加到近3000家。

Private equity investors have backed a plethora of local fast-food chains, which are slowly building market share in the highly fragmented Chinese market, offering food that is closer to local tastes and marketing themselves as healthier. One such is Actis, which invested in a local hotpot chain, Xiabu Xiabu.

私募股權投資者已經投資了一大批中國本土快餐連鎖企業，這些企業正慢慢在高度碎片化的中國市場建立自己的市場份額。它們提供更符合中國人口味的食品，並宣傳自己的食品更健康。私募股權投資者英聯(Actis)就對中國本土火鍋連鎖店呷哺呷哺進行了投資。

This is driving consumer choice in fast food, according to Mintel. The research company says: “A fundamental shift towards healthier Chinese-style cooking is redefining the fast-food industry, and consequently propelling domestic fast-food chains to challenge the foreign fast-food leaders.”

研究公司英敏特(Mintel)表示，這對快餐業的消費者選擇趨勢產生了推動。該公司稱：“向更健康的中式烹飪的根本性轉變，正在重新定義快餐業，進而推動本土快餐連鎖企業挑戰該行業的外資領跑者。”

Mr Han, at the McDonald’s diner, says that if he had the time, he would definitely eat Chinese. But the fast-food industry is counting on the fact that in China – as in other markets – people will continue to be pressed for time. With a rapidly growing market that still, for all its problems, generates net margins of 15-20 per cent, fast-food operators have little intention of throwing in the towel.

在麥當勞餐廳的韓先生表示，如果自己有時間，肯定會吃中餐。但快餐業仰仗的正是以下一個事實：就像在其他市場一樣，在中國，人們將繼續面臨時間不夠用的局面。快速發展中的中國快餐市場儘管存在種種問題，淨利潤率卻依然能夠達到15%至20%。考慮到這一點，快餐業經營者無意在這個市場低頭認輸。