爱思英语编者按：肯德基很乐观的认为2013年夏天在中国的销售下降是可以回升的。现在看来事情并不如预期。九月，肯德基在中国的同店销售再一次的下跌，到目前为止下跌了13%，延长了整年的负增长趋势。
KFC was optimistic this summer that the decline in its China sales would soon reverse. It now appears things aren’t going as well as expected. KFC’s same store sales in China fell again in September, this time by 13 percent, prolonging the negative trend that’s plagued the chicken chain all year.
“We had very high expectations for the month of September,” said Yum! Brands Chief Financial Officer Patrick Grismer during Wednesday’s earnings call. “The fact is that we expected a much better result, and in hindsight, we were wrong.”
Chinese consumers remain worried about food safety, and competing chains are gaining ground. KFC’s China sales plummeted after CCTV reported in December that one of its suppliers was selling chicken that had been given unapproved antibiotics and hormones. Then bird flu broke out in March. By mid-year, KFC’s declines were slowing and Chief Executive Officer David Novak expressed confidence that sales would turn positive in the fourth quarter. “The trend is in the right direction,” a spokesman toldBloomberg Businessweekin July. But losses have remained steady.
KFC also faces heightened competition from fast food chains such as Dicos and Hua Lai Shi, but Novak said in a statement: “KFC is unquestionably the category leader in China and we remain confident sales will fully recover from the adverse publicity surrounding the December poultry supply incident.”
Globally, Yum’s profit was down 68 percent in the third quarter. Despite a difficult year, the company continues to open additional restaurants in China, where it generates more than half its revenues. “China is undeniably the No. 1 retail opportunity in the world,” Novak said during Wednesday’s earnings call. There are 4,463 KFC restaurants in China, up 10 percent from a year ago.(ChinaDaily)
“我们曾对这个九月份抱有很大的期望，”百胜(Yum! Brand)首席财务官帕德里克·格里斯墨(Patrick Grismer)在10月9日周三的财报电话会议上说道。“事实上我们是期待有更好的结果，然而我们错了。”
中国的消费者仍然担心食物的安全问题，肯德基的竞争对手正在蚕食市场份额。CCTV在2012年12月报道肯德基的一家供应商的鸡注入了未经批准的抗生素和激素之后，它在中国销量暴跌。之后是3月份的时候爆发了禽流感。到年中的时候，肯德基的下降趋势有所减弱，之后首席执行官大卫·诺瓦克(David Novak)表示了有信心在最后一个季度销售量可以回升。“这个趋势正处于一个正确的方向”，一位发言人在七月告诉《彭博商业周刊》(Bloomberg Business Week)。不过，亏损仍然持续。
肯德基也面临着越来越大的来自快餐连锁像德克士(Dicos)和华莱士的竞争，但是在一份声明中，诺瓦克说：“肯德基毫无疑问在中国是领头的，我们仍然有信心从去年12月份的负责家禽供应事件中恢复销售量。”
在全球范围内，百盛餐饮的利润在第三季度下降了68%。尽管是艰难的一年，但是该公司仍继续在中国开新店，而这些店贡献了一半多的营业额。“中国毫无疑问是世界上零售商机最大的国家，”诺瓦克在9日的财报电话会议上说。中国目前有4463家的肯德基店，较去年同期增长了10%。
