Will China ever learn to love chocolate?
中国消费者，会爱上巧克力吗？
巧克力在中国的消费量不高，本土品牌却开始扩张。这篇短文把消费习惯、规模经济与产品本土化放在一起，也让我们练习区分已经实现的业绩、经营者的目标和作者的俏皮判断。
原文来源：The Economist
学习目标
- 读懂市场份额、增长目标和价格比较各自在说明什么
- 区分 may、hopes、seems 与已经发生的事实
- 理解 with 复合结构、分词修饰和嵌套定语从句
- 用准确的限定语概括一个品牌的增长机会与约束
中英对照阅读
CHINA HAS more coffee-shop brands and more KFC branches than anywhere else on Earth. But chocolate has never hit the spot, with the average Chinese eating just 100g a year—a mere hundredth of what a French person guzzles. A few mass-market foreign brands—Mars, Ferrero, Nestlé and Hershey—account for four-fifths of Chinese consumption. Of all the chocolate eaten worldwide, only 2% caresses Chinese tastebuds.
中国拥有的咖啡店品牌和肯德基门店，比世界上任何其他地方都多。 但巧克力一直没有真正满足中国消费者的口味：中国人平均每年只吃100克，仅为一名法国人消费量的百分之一。 玛氏、费列罗、雀巢和好时等少数面向大众市场的外国品牌，占据了中国巧克力消费量的五分之四。 全世界吃掉的巧克力，只有2%抚慰了中国人的味蕾。
This may now be changing, thanks to a handful of Chinese chocolatiers springing up around the country. Most are artisanal shops, but some are investing in supply chains and building big businesses. Take Choc Revive. Based in Shanghai, the firm was founded in 2023 by Xie Liang, a fresh-produce trader. He cannot open shops quickly enough. From 80 outlets now he hopes to have 300 by the end of the year. Mr Xie says that his company had 160m yuan ($23.7m) in sales last year and hopes to quadruple that, or more, this year.
随着少数中国巧克力品牌在各地出现，这种情况现在或许正在改变。 其中大多是手工作坊式店铺，但也有一些在投资供应链、扩大生意。 以 Choc Revive 为例。 这家公司总部位于上海，由生鲜贸易商Xie Liang于2023年创办。 他开店的速度总嫌不够快。 他希望把目前的80家门店，在年底前增加到300家。 谢先生说，公司去年销售额为1.6亿元人民币（2370万美元），希望今年达到去年的四倍，甚至更多。
Choc Revive is trying to take chocolate local. It sources its own beans from Africa, but has set up an R&D unit in China and does its own roasting and grinding. Its big investments are intended to produce economies of scale, but the know-how it is accruing may spread and give rise to competitors. Another local chocolate company, Nibbo, has been winning international awards for its creamy sweets. Saturnbird, which started as a coffee grower in south-west China, is now planting its own cacao trees there.
Choc Revive 正尝试让巧克力更贴近本土。 它从非洲直接采购自己的可可豆，但在中国设立了研发部门，并自行烘焙和研磨。 大笔投资旨在形成规模经济，不过，公司正在积累的专门知识可能扩散出去，催生竞争对手。 另一家本土巧克力公司 Nibbo，凭借口感绵滑的甜品屡获国际奖项。 最初在中国西南地区种植咖啡的 Saturnbird，如今也开始在那里种植可可树。
Mr Xie’s concoction is 58 yuan for a 100g chunk—equivalent to a cheap meal for two. It is an awkward time to be selling premium products to belt-tightening consumers. Churning out the cheapest possible goods to undercut rivals is the usual formula. Milk-tea brands are a case in point.
谢先生的巧克力100克一块，售价58元，相当于两个人吃一顿便宜的饭。 在消费者勒紧腰带时出售高端产品，时机颇为尴尬。 通常的做法是大量生产尽可能便宜的商品，以低价压过竞争对手。 奶茶品牌就是一个例子。
Why are people paying out for chocolate? Mr Xie says that making chocolate with Chinese flavours such as longan, which is like a large lychee, seems to go down well. A simpler explanation is that, at long last, Chinese people are learning to love the most delectable flavour in creation.
人们为什么愿意掏钱买巧克力？ 谢先生说，给巧克力加入龙眼等中国风味，似乎颇受欢迎；龙眼看起来像一颗较大的荔枝。 一个更简单的解释是：中国人终于开始学着喜欢这世上最美妙的味道了。