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。

　　洋快餐

　　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-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。

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

　　行业分析师表示，食品质量问题冒出来之际，其他潮流也对西方快餐品牌构成了挑战。

　　“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.

　　“中国的快餐消费者已不再像最初那样对西方快餐感到好奇，现在他们更挑剔、更关注健康，”总部位于北京的北大纵横管理咨询公司(Alliance PKU Management)的餐饮业分析师史俊说。

　　“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，麦当劳或肯德基餐厅可能是某些城镇少数几个有空调和干净厕所的地方，但现在有很多别的选择；竞争大幅增加了，”上海中国市场研究集团(China Market Research)的雷小山(Shaun Rein)说。

　　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.

　　肯德基在中国的门店有4600家，数量比拥有2000家门店的麦当劳多出一倍多，是这个市场遥遥领先的领跑者。但餐品更为便宜、在较小城市势力最强的台资快餐连锁店德克士，最近以2200家门店的数量超过了麦当劳。德克士计划在今年年底前将门店增加到近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.

　　私募股权投资者已经投资了一大批中国本土快餐连锁企业，这些企业正慢慢在高度碎片化的中国市场建立自己的市场份额。它们提供更符合中国人口味的食品，并宣传自己的食品更健康。私募股权投资者英联(Actis)就对中国本土火锅连锁店呷哺呷哺进行了投资。

　　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，这对快餐业的消费者选择趋势产生了推动。该公司称：“向更健康的中式烹饪的根本性转变，正在重新定义快餐业，进而推动本土快餐连锁企业挑战该行业的外资领跑者。”

　　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.

　　在麦当劳餐厅的韩先生表示，如果自己有时间，肯定会吃中餐。但快餐业仰仗的正是以下一个事实：就像在其他市场一样，在中国，人们将继续面临时间不够用的局面。快速发展中的中国快餐市场尽管存在种种问题，净利润率却依然能够达到15%至20%。考虑到这一点，快餐业经营者无意在这个市场低头认输。