洋快餐在中国市场消化不良

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.

导致西方快餐在华声誉和销售额下滑的“过期肉”丑闻曝光一个月后，办公室职员阿瑟•韩(Arthur Han)在麦当劳(McDonald's)餐厅里惬意地嚼着汉堡，称现在是在中国吃

麦当劳的最佳时机，因为食品安全管理部门仍对这家美国汉堡连锁店保持着强大压力。

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.

韩先生说，他并不是麦当劳的常客。上月，一个卧底调查电视节目动摇了麦当劳以清

洁和质量著称的品牌形象。该调查节目声称，麦当劳以及包括百胜餐饮集团(Yum! Brands)和汉堡王(Burger King)在内的另几家西方快餐公司，从一家将过期肉更换标签再销售的中国内地供应商那里进货。

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.

在中国，食品安全是最重要的政治问题之一，这也使总值达到2000亿美元的快餐业再次被推到聚光灯下。除了这起最新事件，这个快速发展的行业还在努力解决其他很多

问题。这些问题包括：中国本土快餐企业构成的日益激烈的竞争，不断上涨的租金，

用工短缺，以及在一个既碎片化又快速发展的市场里采购放心原料的根本性难题。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.

这起丑闻促使上海主管部门查封了受影响的上海福喜食品有限公司(Shanghai Husi Food)的工厂。上海福喜是美国福喜集团(OSI)的子公司。麦当劳本月表示，这起丑闻

最初对其销售额造成了“显著的负面影响”，尽管其无法估算出对全年业绩的影响。

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.

百胜表示，旗下品牌肯德基(KFC)和必胜客(Pizza Hut)最初也发生了销售额下降的情况。它补充称，如果这种下滑持续下去，可能对全年每股盈利(EPS)造成“实质性影响”。但分析师表示，不管这起丑闻会对西方品牌造成什么影响，中国本土的快餐企业都不

大可能从中捞到好处。

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“不止影响麦当劳和肯德基，它们只不过是最有名的”，咨询公司科尔尼(AT Kearney)的合伙人唐仕德(Torsten Stocker)说。“如果它们现在面临这样的问题，其他企业又有何分别呢？”

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”.

许多用餐者似乎明白并不是只有西方品牌有问题：上周，一名在中国本土快餐店吃午

饭的年轻办公室职员向英国《金融时报》记者展示了一根他刚从午饭里择出来的金属丝，并告诉记者唯一的解决办法就是“无视它”。

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.

观察人士表示，这暴露出了供应商的问题。中国的50万家食品加工商中，绝大部分规模太小或太缺乏经验，不适合为外资连锁餐厅等既庞大又要求严格的客户服务。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.

分析师称，供应商未能跟上快餐业扩张的脚步。以德克士(Dicos)为例，该公司今年第

一季度门店数量同比增长40%，达到2200家。

Hence a string of scandals have shaken the faith of China’s twenty- and thirtysomething white-co llar 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，一连串的丑闻已经动摇了中国二三十岁白领的信心。肯德基等品牌尤其受到一

个接一个被大肆曝光的供应商丑闻的冲击；百胜的销售额刚刚开始从2012年禽肉滥用抗生素引起的恐慌中恢复，上月就又曝出了“过期肉”丑闻。