高科技融入麦当劳

McDonalds Puts High-Tech¹ on its Menu

高科技融入麦当劳

 

McDonald's recently celebrated² its 50th birthday, and the fast food giant is planning to make its second half-century as revolutionary as its first. As it faces increased competition from other types of food outlets³, the world's largest restaurant chain is stepping out in a brand new style, hoping to attract new fans with a new emphasis on healthier foods like salads. And at some McDonald's restaurants, the emphasis is decidedly high-tech… and not at all related to hamburgers.

 

On a recent, hot summer afternoon, 23 year old Patrick Gue, stopped at a McDonald's in the upscale Chicago suburb of Oak Brook⁴. He just wanted to "chill out with a burger." Instead, he says, he was stunned⁵ to find himself in a sleek⁶, two-story lounge lined with plasma⁷ TVs showing baseball games.

 

Patrick Gue: Awesome⁸… everything from the technology to… you got the McCafe, and you got televisions… I can eat my burger and watch TV at the same time! It doesn't get any better than that!

 

But it did get better. Mr. Gue got to download a brand-new CD and ring tone for his cell phone, thanks to high-tech kiosks now available exclusively at the Oak Brook McDonald's.

 

Patrick Gue: Who would have thought you get this at McDonald's? You can come here and watch television and eat your food and download ring tones? This is awesome, I wouldn't trade this for anything.

 

Words like that are music to the ears of McDonald's executive Bill Whitman. He says the Oak Brook restaurant, located just a stone's throw away from McDonald's world headquarters, serves as a national test site for new concepts.

 

Bill Whitman: This is a flagship restaurant. It really represents, in part, the future of McDonald's. The restaurant is dedicated⁹ to a former chairman Charlie Bell who embodied¹⁰ what the brand means to a customer that is for every young relevant to a customer and connected to the community.

 

In addition to the music kiosks -- which can also print out digital photos -- the Oak Brook restaurant offers wireless¹¹ Internet access, web surfing stations, and a McCafe serving cheesecake and lattes. Customers here like the high-tech atmosphere.

 

A customer: When I'm on vacation and wanna go print some photos, or get CDs for the kids, they can play it in their MP3 players in the car. It keeps them busy and I can play my own CDs.

 

A woman: I walked into the door, I walked to the McCafe and I thought it was so adult-like, it was for adults with the fireplace and everything… it was comfortable to talk.

 

An elder woman: I think it’s wonderful, very nice, we pleased. As old people, we come here and we relax, it doesn't make any difference if there's anything going on. It's wonderful…

 

An old man: I'm sure McDonald's understands what's going on and caters¹³ to all.

 

McDonald's has also hired a fashion consultant¹⁴ to design new, hipper¹⁵ uniforms for its staff. According to media critic and marketing¹⁶ consultant Joseph Jaffe, the changes would be good for McDonald's.

 

Joseph Jaffe: I think that they've realized that for a brand to move forward, especially in today's cluttered¹⁷ environment with so much choice available to consumers, they are going to have to be different things to different consumers. It's all about customization, it's all about personalization, and it's all about choice… which actually comes all the way back to some of the new items that are coming (out) on their menu.

 

But David Greising, senior business analyst¹⁸ for the Chicago Tribune, thinks the global restaurant chain would do better to stick with what it does best.

 

David Greising: They're just not going to get the kind of marginal increase in sales from these peripheral¹⁹ products that they could if, say, they come up with another menu concept that's successful. Look at what McGrills has done for their breakfast menu. It's huge! You're not going to do that by selling trinkets.

 

The Starbucks Coffee Company has been very successful selling "trinkets" like CDs and board games to its customers, along with their lattes and espressos. McDonald's is hoping to replicate²⁰ that achievement. But Mr. Greising says consumers never had rigid²¹ expectations of the 'Starbucks experience.' He suggests the innovations at Oak Brook represent too much of a change for McDonald's.

 

David Greising: Starbucks had the opportunity to define the 'Starbucks experience' as including music, McDonald's doesn't really have that opportunity. We as consumers believe we know what to expect when we walk into a McDonald's: we expect good hamburgers, thick shakes, hot fries. That's what we expect. We don't want or need anything else from McDonald's, and don't expect it and won't pay for it!

 

A slightly more optimistic view of the possibilities of non-food sales at fast food restaurants comes from industry consultant Ron Paul.

 

Ron Paul: The answer is there really isn't just one 'silver bullet' you can shoot once and you're going stay successful. You've gotta keep trying new things and different things. Obviously, Oak Brook is not a representative store as far as McDonald's is concerned since their headquarters are there. You need a larger sample. It should be tried in multiple markets and again, see how it impacts business.

 

McDonald's has rolled out similar high-tech machines in Munich, Germany and plans to soon install some in Berlin locations, too. But Bill Whitman says for now, customers of the more than 30,000 McDonald's franchises²² around the world are unlikely to get all the "bells and whistles" … and ring tones … of the flagship Oak Brook store.

 

I’m Bettina Kozlowski in Chicago.

 

注释：

upscale [5Qpskeil] adj. <美>迎合高层次消费者的

stunned [stQnd] adj. 惊奇的

sleek [sli:k] adj. 时髦的，讲究的

lounge [laundV] n. 休闲室

plasma TV 等离子电视

brand-new adj. 崭新的

kiosk [5ki:Csk] n. 亭子

exclusively [ik5sklu:sivli] adv. 专有地

flagship [5flA^Fip] n. 旗舰

cater¹² to 供应伙食

cluttered [5klQtEd] adj. 混乱的

peripheral [pE5rifErEl] adj. 外围的

trinket [5triNkit] n. 小装饰品

espresso [5espresEu] n. （蒸汽加压煮出的）浓咖啡

replicate [5replikit] v. 复制

roll out 铺开，大量生产

Munich [5mju:nik] n. 慕尼黑

1 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

5 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

6 sleek   

adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢

参考例句：

• Women preferred sleek,shiny hair with little decoration.女士们更喜欢略加修饰的光滑闪亮型秀发。
• The horse's coat was sleek and glossy.这匹马全身润泽有光。

7 plasma   

n.血浆，细胞质，乳清

参考例句：

• Keep some blood plasma back for the serious cases.留一些血浆给重病号。
• The plasma is the liquid portion of blood that is free of cells .血浆是血液的液体部分，不包含各种细胞。

8 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

9 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

10 embodied   

v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• a politician who embodied the hopes of black youth 代表黑人青年希望的政治家
• The heroic deeds of him embodied the glorious tradition of the troops. 他的英雄事迹体现了军队的光荣传统。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

12 cater   

vi.(for/to)满足，迎合；(for)提供饮食及服务

参考例句：

• I expect he will be able to cater for your particular needs.我预计他能满足你的特殊需要。
• Most schools cater for children of different abilities.大多数学校能够满足具有不同天资的儿童的需要。

13 caters   

提供饮食及服务( cater的第三人称单数 )； 满足需要，适合

参考例句：

• That shop caters exclusively to the weaker sex. 那家商店专供妇女需要的商品。
• The boutique caters for a rather select clientele. 这家精品店为特定的顾客群服务。

14 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

15 hipper   

hip（（衣服、音乐等方面）时髦的，赶时髦的）的比较级形式

参考例句：

• So were the two pocket battleships and the big cruisers Admiral Hipper, Seydlitz and Derfflinger. 和这两艘袖珍战列舰一样的还有重巡洋舰希佩海军上将号，赛德利兹号以及德尔福林格号。 来自互联网

16 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

17 cluttered   

v.杂物，零乱的东西零乱vt.( clutter的过去式和过去分词 )；乱糟糟地堆满，把…弄得很乱；（以…） 塞满…

参考例句：

• The room is cluttered up with all kinds of things. 零七八碎的东西放满了一屋子。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The desk is cluttered with books and papers. 桌上乱糟糟地堆满了书报。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

18 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

19 peripheral   

adj.周边的，外围的

参考例句：

• We dealt with the peripheral aspects of a cost reduction program.我们谈到了降低成本计划的一些外围问题。
• The hotel provides the clerk the service and the peripheral traveling consultation.旅舍提供票务服务和周边旅游咨询。

20 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

21 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

22 franchises   

n.（尤指选举议员的）选举权( franchise的名词复数 )；参政权；获特许权的商业机构（或服务）；（公司授予的）特许经销权v.给…以特许权，出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder. 电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ford dealerships operated as independent franchises. 福特汽车公司的代销商都是独立的联营商。 来自辞典例句