McDonald’s Revs Up for China Drive-Thru 麦当劳寄望“得来速”汽车餐厅拓宽中国市场
McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD), in the unfamiliar position of being a constant runner-up in China to rival KFC (NYSE: YUM), is preparing an unusual campaign to try to narrow the gap. The new strategy involves opening more drive-through restaurants to tap the growing number of mobile Chinese with the new cars and not enough places to drive them. According to a Chinese media report, McDonald’s plans to open 700 new stores in the next two years — increasing its current count by 50 percent — with about half of those offering drive-through service. (English article) It all sounds a bit like America in the 1950s, when a newly mobile generation of post-war youth were eager to test out their new cars any way they could, leading to a boom in drive-through restaurants at that time. The comparison seems particularly appropriate for China, where many young city dwellers now own cars and are looking for inexpensive ways to use them. If McDonalds executes its plans well, its drive-through dream could very well help it to gain ground on or even pass KFC in China’s competitive fast food market.
Bottom line: McDonalds plan to open 350 drive-thru restaurants over the next 2 years looks like a smart move aimed at courting the country’s growing legions of young, newly mobile consumers.
麦当劳<MCD.N>在中国市场一直落後于肯德基<YUM.N>，如今麦当劳打算一项不同寻常的举动奋起直追。麦当劳打算通过开设更多汽车餐厅，吸引中国日益增长的有车族。据中国媒体报导，麦当劳准备在未来两年开设700家新店，其中一半店铺提供“得来速”(drive-through)服务。这都听起来有点像上世纪50年代的美国，当时战後的年轻人不愿错过任何一个驾驶新车的机会，这导致美国的“得来速”餐厅遍地开花。这一比较与中国当前情况颇为贴切，很多城市的年轻人买了车，希望以方便价廉的方式开车。如果麦当劳的计划执行良好，那麽“得来速”汽车餐厅将帮助麦当劳从肯德基手中抢夺更多中国市场份额，甚至帮助麦当劳在中国的快餐市场超过肯德基。
一句话：麦当劳打算在未来两年开设350家“得来速”汽车餐厅，吸引中国年轻的有车一族之举看起来是明智之举。
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