星巴克上海新開烘焙工坊 大舉押注中國市場

Starbucks is making a super-sized bet on China, where it is opening the world’s biggest outlet as part of efforts to maintain its upscale reputation in an increasingly important market.

星巴克(Starbucks)在中國市場押下重注，推出約3萬平方公尺（2700平米）的臻選烘焙工坊。此舉是該公司爲了在重要性日益提升的中國市場保持其高端品牌聲譽舉措的一部分。

The Seattle-based company has spread to more than 130 cities in China, where it now operates about 3,000 stores. It is opening new outlets at a rate faster than one a day as it seeks growth in the country following several quarters of underwhelming results in the US, its biggest market.

總部在西雅圖的星巴克現已在中國130多個城市開設了近3000家門店。在其最大市場美國市場連續多個季度的銷售業績不盡人意後，星巴克正以每天新開超過一家門店的速度在中國市場擴張，以尋求業績增長。

The new 30,000 sq ft roastery in Shanghai — which is approximately half the size of a football pitch — is Starbucks’ first outside the US. The outlet, which will open on Wednesday, allows customers to watch beans being roasted and brewed in Bunsen-burner style tubes and is positioned as “super premium,” the company said.

上海新開的這家烘焙工坊——面積近半個足球場大——是星巴克在美國之外的首家臻選烘焙工坊。這家定位爲“超高端”的新店於星期三開張迎客，顧客可以觀看咖啡豆烘焙以及在本生燈般的裝置中衝煮的全過程，該公司說。

As white-collar Chinese consumers with rising incomes switch to pricier premium goods, Starbucks is betting that thirst will extend to coffee.

隨着收入不斷增加的中國白領消費者轉向價格更高的高端產品，星巴克押注，這股消費升級熱潮將會延伸到咖啡領域。

China could become Starbucks’ biggest market within a decade, executive chairman Howard Schultz told the Financial Times in Shanghai on Tuesday.

星巴克的創始人兼執行董事長霍華德?舒爾茨(Howard Schultz)週二在上海向英國《金融時報》表示，中國可望在十年內成爲星巴克最大的市場。

Starbucks outlets in China have been seen as an upmarket destination for business meetings or dates, and so are able to charge more for a coffee than in the US. But other US brands such as McDonald’s and KFC that expanded rapidly in China have struggled in recent years as consumers in large cities began to desert in favour of higher-end options.

在中國，星巴克咖啡店被視爲商務會面或約會的高檔場所，因此，它在中國的咖啡售價高於美國。不過，曾在中國快速擴張的麥當勞(McDonald's)和肯德基(KFC)等其他美國品牌近年來舉步維艱，因爲中國大城市的消費者開始放棄這些品牌，轉而青睞更高端的餐廳。

Starbucks has 600 stores in Shanghai — more than in New York or London — but faces competition from an increasing number of artisanal outlets. Li Chaoxiang, 23, who works in an investment bank, said: “Starbucks is not a premium brand any more, as when it first came. Now in Shanghai you can see Starbucks anywhere.”

星巴克在上海有600家門店——超過了紐約或倫敦——但面臨越來越多精品咖啡店的競爭。今年23歲、在一家投資銀行工作的李超祥（音譯）說：“與當初進入中國時不一樣了，星巴克已不再是高端品牌。在上海，星巴克現在隨處可見。”

“The ubiquity of those companies worked against them,” Mr Schultz said of US fast-food chains. “The roastery represents the ability to take the customer up.”

“開店太多制約了這些公司的發展。” 舒爾茨在談到美國的快餐連鎖店時說，“通過烘焙工坊，我們能夠帶着客戶升級消費。”

Revenue from the Asia-Pacific region, which includes China, accounted for almost 15 per cent of Starbucks’ revenue for the fiscal year ended in October, up from 5.5 per cent five years earlier. Same-store sales grew 8 per cent in China in the most recent quarter, compared with 2 per cent globally.

在10月份結束的財務年度，包括中國在內的亞太地區收入，在星巴克總收入中的佔比由五年前的5.5%上升至接近15%。最近一個季度，中國的同店銷售增長8%，而全球增幅僅爲2%。

“This is an inflection point for the company where China will become a much more important component of the financial results of Starbucks,” Mr Schultz said, adding there would be “less dependence on the US business” in the future.

“這是星巴克發展的一個拐點，今後，中國市場將在星巴克的財務業績中佔據重要得多的地位。” 舒爾茨說。將來，公司對“美國業務的依賴性會下降”，他補充說。

Starbucks opens a store about every 15 hours in China, including in a growing number of smaller cities that many Americans have “never heard of,” Mr Schultz said. “We’re seeing fantastic returns in those cities which are consistent with the early days of Shanghai and Beijing,” he added.

星巴克每15個小時就在中國開設一家新店，其中包括在越來越多很多美國人“從未聽說過”的小城市，舒爾茨說。“在這些城市的投資回報非常高，同星巴克最初進入上海和北京時的情況一樣。” 他補充說。

“One thing we didn’t count on is how busy the stores would be in the afternoon and evening, which is different from the US where we are busiest in the morning,” he noted. He added that same-store sales had been boosted by increasing morning patronage “in the last year or two” in China.

“我們沒有考慮到的一點是，這些咖啡店在下午和晚上會非常忙，這與美國的情況不同，美國市場的高峯期通常是在早上。”他說。同店銷售因“過去一兩年”中國市場上午的客流量增加而受到提振，他還指出。

While Starbucks has been under fire for its tax arrangements in Europe, Mr Schultz, who stepped down as chief executive this year, has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump and the recent tax reform bill passed by the US Senate.

雖然星巴克因其在歐洲的稅務安排而受到抨擊，但今年辭去首席執行官職位的舒爾茨，一直直言不諱地批評總統唐納德?特朗普(Donald Trump)和最近美國國會通過的稅改議案。

“I have a policy of not speaking about American politics on foreign soil,” he said. “I’ll just say this: I would like to see a tax policy that is more compassionate and serves all people not just corporate America”.

“我給自己劃定的紅線是，不在外國的土地上談論美國政治。”他說，“我就這樣說吧，我希望看到稅收政策更富有同情心，能造福所有人、而不僅僅是美國的公司。”