FT:自助餐的奇怪新经济

There is an old episode of The Simpsons in which Homer goes to the Frying Dutchman buffet and is thrown out after eating all of the shrimp, along with two plastic lobsters. “But the sign said, ‘All You Can Eat’,” he protests, and sues Sea Captain Horatio McCallister, the proprietor.
《辛普森一家》中有一个老情节，荷马去吃炸荷兰人自助餐，吃完所有的虾和两只塑料龙虾后被扔了出去。 “但是标牌上写着‘吃到饱’，”他抗议道，并起诉了船东、船长霍雷肖·麦卡利斯特。

Red Lobster was not watching, to judge by its current troubles. The US chain has considered Chapter 11 bankruptcy after disastrously putting a $20 “Endless Shrimp” option on its menu last year and making losses by attracting too many Homers. Buffet-style restaurants are constantly in danger of having their all-you-can-eat offers being taken literally.
从红龙虾目前的麻烦来看，它并没有在旁观。去年，这家美国连锁店在其菜单上灾难性地推出了价值 20 美元的“无尽虾”选项，并因吸引了太多荷马而蒙受损失，因此考虑根据美国破产法第 11 章破产。自助式餐厅经常面临着“吃到饱”的危险。

The company really should have known, having got into identical trouble two decades ago by launching an “Endless Crab” promotion, and finding that customers were all too willing to test the proposition. The thing that sunk it “wasn’t the second helping on all you can eat . . . but the third”, Red Lobster’s then chair explained. “And maybe the fourth,” another executive added mournfully.
该公司确实应该知道，二十年前因推出“无尽的螃蟹”促销活动而陷入了同样的麻烦，并发现客户非常愿意测试该主张。导致它沉没的原因“不是你能吃到的第二份”。 。 。但第三个”，红龙虾当时的主席解释道。 “也许还有第四个，”另一位高管悲伤地补充道。

But mispricing crustaceans as a marketing gimmick is a symptom rather than the cause of the travails of these chains. Fixed-price buffets, which first came to Las Vegas as a loss-leading way to keep punters at the tables, have long felt tired. They have been overtaken by fast casual chains such as Chipotle, Shake Shack and Panera Bread.
但将甲壳类动物错误定价作为营销噱头只是这些连锁店陷入困境的一个症状，而不是原因。固定价格自助餐最初来到拉斯维加斯是为了让赌客留在赌桌上，这是一种亏损的方式，但长期以来人们已经感到厌倦。它们已被 Chipotle、Shake Shack 和 Panera Bread 等快速休闲连锁店取代。

The strange thing is that all-you-can-eat buffets are thriving at the other end of the income scale. Lavish and expensive spreads that offer fine steak, crab and lobster by the kilo, and even all-you-can-drink champagne, are popping up not only in Las Vegas but other places. Casual Sunday lunches at pubs have been succeeded by bacchanalian feasts at casinos and restaurants.
奇怪的是，自助餐在收入范围的另一端却蓬勃发展。奢华而昂贵的美食不仅在拉斯维加斯，而且在其他地方也如雨后春笋般出现，其中包括按公斤计算的优质牛排、螃蟹和龙虾，甚至还有无限畅饮的香槟。酒吧里的休闲周日午餐已经被赌场和餐馆里的狂欢盛宴所取代。

Les Grands Buffets in Narbonne, at which 380,000 diners each year pay €52.90 for piles of haute cuisine including nine kinds of foie gras, was recently dubbed “the hottest restaurant in France” by The New Yorker. The Ned hotel and members club in London offers a Sunday feast of oysters, roasts and champagne for £165, and Caesars Palace Las Vegas a weekend blowout for $85.
位于纳博讷的 Les Grands 自助餐厅每年有 380,000 名食客支付 52.90 欧元，享用包括 9 种鹅肝酱在内的大量高级美食，最近被《纽约客》称为“法国最热门的餐厅”。伦敦的 Ned 酒店和会员俱乐部提供周日盛宴，包括牡蛎、烤肉和香槟，价格为 165 英镑；拉斯维加斯凯撒宫酒店则提供周末盛宴，价格为 85 美元。

All-you-can-eat buffets have thus become exhibit A of what Jane Fraser, Citigroup’s chief executive, this week called “the K-shaped economy”. While lower-income consumers are feeling a sharper financial pinch, the K’s upward stroke denotes the well-off shoppers and diners who, as the consultancy EY put it, “want retailers and brands to excite and entice them”.
因此，自助餐已成为花旗集团首席执行官简·弗雷泽(Jane Fraser)本周所说的“K型经济”的一个例证。虽然低收入消费者感受到了更严重的经济压力，但 K 的上升表明富裕的购物者和食客，正如咨询公司安永所说，“希望零售商和品牌能够刺激和吸引他们”。

The luxury all-you-can-eat buffet feels like a more profitable and less perilous operation than Red Lobster. The high entry price means such operations can afford a few diners who eat in excess of two helpings and guzzle a lot of drinks. The clientele are also more likely to be there for the ambience and less focused on ensuring they consume enough to get a good deal. 
与红龙虾餐厅相比，豪华的自助餐感觉利润更高、风险更小。高昂的入场价格意味着这样的餐厅可以负担得起一些吃超过两份并喝很多饮料的食客。顾客也更有可能是为了氛围而去的，而不是专注于确保他们消费足够多以获得优惠。

The financial problem with traditional chains is that they operate on very thin margins and rely on pulling in plenty of diners to minimise the amount of food that has to be thrown away. Food waste can easily push them into losses, which is why they often default to flashy promotions such as “Endless Shrimp” to lure customers from rivals, says Aaron Allen, a restaurant consultant.
传统连锁店的财务问题在于，它们的利润非常微薄，并且依靠吸引大量食客来最大程度地减少必须丢弃的食物量。餐厅顾问艾伦·艾伦 (Aaron Allen) 表示，食物浪费很容易使他们陷入亏损，这就是为什么他们经常默认使用“无尽虾”等华丽促销活动来吸引竞争对手的顾客。

That is an easy trick to get wrong. David Just, a Cornell University economics professor who has studied buffet behaviour, tells me that a bargain offer of prime crustacean is bound to attract “many people who place a high value on one item and are going to eat a lot of it”. It can be mitigated by putting a time limit on promotions but Red Lobster’s was open ended.
这是一个很容易出错的技巧。康奈尔大学经济学教授戴维·贾斯特（David Just）研究了自助餐行为，他告诉我，优质甲壳类动物的廉价报价必然会吸引“许多对一件物品评价很高并会吃很多东西的人”。可以通过对促销设置时间限制来缓解这一问题，但红龙虾的促销是开放式的。

The K-shaped economy offers some hope to buffet dining chains, which are above all cheap. The average weekend fixed lunch price at restaurants franchised by Golden Corral, a large US chain, is $12.99. You can fill up on plenty of food while watching every dollar, and its sales have grown by double digits in the past two years after being badly affected by the pandemic.
K型经济给自助餐连锁店带来了一些希望，尤其是价格便宜。美国大型连锁店 Golden Corral 特许经营的餐厅周末固定午餐平均价格为 12.99 美元。可以一边吃饱一边看好每一块钱，在受疫情严重影响后的两年里，它的销量增长了两位数。

Golden Corral has done better than Red Lobster by focusing not on promotions, but on driving down its costs so it can profitably undercut competitors even at the bottom end of the market. I doubt whether a Golden Corral meal would satisfy a patron of Les Grands Buffets, but it is faithful to the original $1 “Buckaroo Buffet” at the El Rancho in Las Vegas in the 1940s.
Golden Corral 比 Red Lobster 做得更好，因为它不注重促销，而是注重降低成本，这样即使在市场的低端，它也能以低于竞争对手的价格获利。我怀疑一顿 Golden Corral 餐是否能让 Les Grands 自助餐的顾客满意，但它忠实于 20 世纪 40 年代拉斯维加斯 El Rancho 最初的 1 美元“Buckaroo 自助餐”。

This has further potential. McDonald’s and Coca-Cola both said this week that poorer US consumers had cut spending in the face of persistent price rises and were trading down. McDonald’s said it was focused on providing an “entry-level meal bundle”. There is the opportunity for buffet-dining chains: forget the crab and lobster, offer a very cheap spread.
这还有进一步的潜力。麦当劳和可口可乐本周均表示，面对价格持续上涨，较贫穷的美国消费者已削减支出，并开始减少消费。麦当劳表示，其重点是提供“入门级套餐”。自助餐饮连锁店有机会：忘记螃蟹和龙虾，提供非常便宜的餐点。

The evolution of all-you-can-eat buffets tells you all that you need to know about the unequal state of the new economy. The gulf between the luxury feast and the basic meal will keep on widening. Red Lobster’s mistake was not making the “Endless Shrimp” offer, but pricing it too cheaply and marketing it to the wrong people.
自助餐的演变告诉您有关新经济不平等状况所需了解的一切。奢华盛宴和基本膳食之间的差距将继续扩大。红龙虾的错误不是提供“无尽的虾”优惠，而是定价太便宜并将其营销给错误的人。