爲何肯德基受中國人喜愛

Few things are more American than fastfood. The spices and grease of KFC, the thick cheesy crusts at Pizza Hut, thevague aura of sadness surrounding any McDonald's – these are quintessentialparts of the middle-class American experience. Even China hasn't withstood theunhealthy lure of Western fast food. When the first KFC opened in 1987 Beijing, few would have guessed that in 20 years, it wouldbe the numberone foreign restaurant brand in all of China.

很少有東西能比快餐更彰顯美式的了。肯德基的香味料和油脂，必勝客的濃香奶酪，環繞着麥當勞淡淡的悲傷氛圍——這些都是美國中產階級生活中典型的部分，以致連中國都無法抗拒不健康的西式快餐的誘惑。自第一家肯德基快餐店於1987年在北京開業，很少有人能想到在不到20年的時間裏，肯德基將成爲遍佈中國大地首屈一指的外國餐飲品牌。

Analysts have writtenbooks detailing the secrets to KFC's success in China. Any company's success is theresult of many factors, but one factor analysts often cite is that that theyweren't afraid to experiment with "Kentuckychicken with Chinese characteristics". While certain menu items are expected ofall American fast food (fries, soda) KFCs in China also served fast foodversions of more traditional Chinese food.

分析者曾用書面的形式詳述了肯德基在中國大獲成功的祕訣。任何公司獲得成功都是由很多因素促成的，但分析者們常提及的一大因素就是他們不懼將“肯德與中國本土特色相結合”。雖然有些菜單上的菜品是地地道道的美式快餐（炸薯條，碳酸飲料），但中國的肯德基還會提供更趨向中國傳統飲食風格的快餐。

Another huge component was associating thebrand more with luxury and indulgence, rather than "desperate, pathetic 1AMchicken cravings," as it's thought of in the United States. Although this modelwas primarily implemented in the early days of KFC, it helped justifythe costs of importing products from overseas to guarantee the quality. Today,Pizza Hut and Haagen Dazs in Chinahave capitalized on the success of "brand Western food as luxurious" to thepoint where eating in these restaurants is a kind of status symbol. Pizza Hutserves bacon and smoked salmon pizza, while Haagan Dazs offers delicate morselsof ice cream served in beautiful, gold parlors.

另一個重要的因素是將肯德基更多地與奢侈和放鬆的理念聯繫在一起，而非美國人感覺的“凌晨一點悲傷絕望時吃雞肉發泄的慾望”。雖然這只是肯德基在早期踐行的主要模式，但這證明了爲確保產品質量而從海外進口產品的花費是合理的。現在，中國的必勝客和哈根達斯已經將成功打造的“西方快餐的奢侈文化”發揚到在西方餐廳裏就餐是身份象徵的層次。必勝客提供給顧客培根和煙燻三文魚披薩，而哈根達斯則在漂亮金色的客廳裏供應可口的小份冰激凌。

Still other restaurants maintain theirbrand identity and staples the world over. The McDonald's Chinese menuresembles its American menus so closely that the only minor changes they makemay come across as amusing to the uninformed.

但仍有其他餐廳在世界各地保持品牌統一性和主打產品的特色。麥當勞在中國列出的菜單與美國的如此相近，而僅有的幾處微小改動都能逗樂不知情的顧客。

Without a doubt, Western fast food in Chinais here to stay, but which brands thrive and which fail will largely be becauseof market research and advertising. KFC, at the very least, has pulledahead of the crowd to earn its place in the hearts and stomachs of Chinese.

毋庸置疑，西式快餐已經在中國站穩腳跟，但品牌的興衰更替則在很大程度上倚賴市場調研和廣告。就肯德基來說，這個品牌至少已經率先贏得了中國消費者的心，也迎合了中國消費者的胃口。