Big chains have been wooing consumers with increasingly discounted food --and it appears to be working—at the expense of the little guy.

許多大型連鎖飯店都開始推行餐飲折扣服務(wù)，并以此來吸引顧客。這一策略似乎成效顯著，只是這樣一來，連鎖餐飲的興盛使得許多個體經(jīng)營的小飯館經(jīng)營慘淡，逐漸走向沒落。

According to a new report from food industry research firm NPD Group, last year the total number of chain restaurants increased by more than 3,200 locations while over 7,100 independent eateries closed up shop in 2015.

根據(jù)食品行業(yè)研究機(jī)構(gòu)NPD集團(tuán)最新發(fā)布的一則報(bào)告顯示，去年一年，連鎖飯店總數(shù)量同比增長了3200家，與此同時(shí)，超過7000家獨(dú)立經(jīng)營的小飯店關(guān)閉店面，停止?fàn)I業(yè)。

Total restaurant visits last year were up by 700 million compared to five years earlier, almost returning to pre-recession levels. But according to NPD, many restaurants—which the group defines as eateries —were hit hard by the recession and are struggling to recover since smaller restaurants don’t have the capital to recover as quickly.

同五年之前相比，去年一年餐館的顧客總量就增長了7億人，基本恢復(fù)到經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退前的水平。但是據(jù)NPD集團(tuán)報(bào)道，許多性質(zhì)和個體小餐館類似的飯店受經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退的影響較大，他們沒有足夠的資金來幫助其迅速周轉(zhuǎn)經(jīng)營，只得努力掙扎，重新起步。

“Chains have been heavily investing in advertising and ‘dealing’ to drive customer traffic these past several years and independents don’t have the resources to compete,” NPD spokeswoman Kim McLynn told Buzzfeed.

NPD集團(tuán)發(fā)言人吉姆·麥克林恩告訴“Buzzfeed”新聞網(wǎng)站，“過去幾年，這些連鎖飯店將大部分資金投在廣告以及如何可以招攬更多顧客等方面，而那些個體經(jīng)營的小飯店并沒有能力與之抗衡。”

On average, fast food chain restaurants grew by 1.5 percent last year while visits to full service restaurants declined. Starbucks added 559 U.S. locations in 2015 while Dunkin’ Donuts added 349 outlets. Both Taco Bell and Chipotle each added about 200 stores in the same time period.

平均而言，連鎖快餐店數(shù)量在去年同比增長了1.5%, 但全方位服務(wù)餐廳的顧客數(shù)量有所減少。2015年，星巴克在美國本土新增加了559個店面，唐肯甜甜圈則新開了349個零售店。塔可鐘集團(tuán)和小辣椒（一家墨西哥美食連鎖速食店）也在同時(shí)期各自增加了200個分店。

Growth has been spurred in part by the slew of new promotions offered by the larger chains. Burger King, Wendy’s, McDonald’s and now Taco Bell have all recently rolled out different dollar deals—ranging from simple dollar items to Wendy’s four for $4. Burger King had an even cheaper promotion with five items for $4.

其中，一些大型連鎖店開展一系列的新型促銷活動，一定程度上也促進(jìn)了顧客數(shù)量的增長。類似漢堡王、溫蒂漢堡、麥當(dāng)勞以及現(xiàn)如今的塔可鐘在最近都在進(jìn)行價(jià)格戰(zhàn)廝殺，起初是一些小型的促銷項(xiàng)目，后來溫蒂漢堡推出了4美元可以購買4項(xiàng)指定餐點(diǎn)的活動。漢堡王更是不惜血本，推出4美元可以購買5項(xiàng)指定餐點(diǎn)的活動。

That’s not to say that big fast food joints are immune to the restaurant struggle. McDonald’s, which has faced notorious revenue problems, had 91 fewer U.S. locations in 2015 than the previous year. KFC closed 100 and Pizza Hut closed 41 restaurants.

這并不是說大型快餐店就可以完全置身事外，免于同行之間的爭斗。2015年，麥當(dāng)勞就因?yàn)槭找鎲栴}，比2014年少開了91家店面。除此之外，肯德基也陸續(xù)關(guān)閉了100家店面，必勝客關(guān)閉了41家。

But all is not lost for the restaurant industry. The fast casual quick service category continued to expand, growing by 5 percent from 18,176 in fall of 2014 to over 19,000 last year.

但對于餐飲業(yè)來說，他們并非一無所有，再無出頭之日。那些便捷的快餐服務(wù)行業(yè)仍在擴(kuò)展當(dāng)中，并從2014年秋季的18176家迅速增長到2015年的19000多家，同比增長了5%。

McLynn said “the restaurant business is challenging and in the end it’s the survival of the fittest.” In a post-recession era, the “fittest” may be those restaurants which are perceived as offering the greatest value.

麥克林恩表示，“餐飲業(yè)非常具有挑戰(zhàn)性，該行業(yè)同樣秉承適者生存的原則?！痹诮?jīng)濟(jì)衰退后的時(shí)代，所謂的“適者”或許就是能夠提供最優(yōu)質(zhì)服務(wù)的餐廳。

本文來源：愛思英語，由餐飲界(微信ID:canyinj)整編報(bào)道，轉(zhuǎn)載請注明來源！