節目介紹
VOA慢速英語 即VOA Special English,是美國VOA專為非英語國家的學習者量身定製的學習欄目!語速較慢,選詞全部為基礎英語詞彙,適合聽力基礎一般的學習者用來提升聽力能力;同樣也適合所有英語愛好者用來跟讀,提升發音質量,每天更新1期。查看VOA聽力全集,點擊文章左下角「閱讀原文」。
全民通用版: 英語聽力訓練指南
虛擬廚房
When it comes to eating, more Americans are ordering in instead of eating out. In some restaurants, cooks make food for other online restaurants at the same time.
說到吃飯,越來越多的美國人開始點餐而不是外出用餐。在一些餐館,廚師同時為其他在線餐館提供服務。
Like at Frato's Pizza, a family restaurant in Chicago. In the kitchen, the cooks make pizza. But they also make chicken, salmon and even frozen milk drinks—all of which can only be ordered online.
例如,芝加哥的家庭餐廳Frato's Pizza。廚師們在廚房內製作披薩餅。但是他們也製作雞肉、鮭魚甚至是冰凍牛奶飲料——所有這些都只能在網上訂餐。
Frato's owner, Michael Kudrna, launched the online-only businesses earlier this year to keep up with new eating trends. He says one third of his sales come from people using third-party apps on their cell phones. But those sales also cost him. Third-party apps can charge as much as 30 percent to manage the ordering and delivering of the food.
今年年初,為了緊跟新興的飲食潮流,Frato的Michael Kudrna成立了這家只提供網絡訂餐的公司。他說,店裡三分之一的銷售額來自在手機上使用第三方應用程式的用戶。但這些銷量也讓他苦不堪言。第三方應用程式會收取高達30%的費用承擔食物的訂購和配送問題。
David Portalatin is a food industry adviser for the NPD group. He says the $26.8 billion online ordering market is the fastest-growing source of restaurant sales in the U.S.
David Portalatin是NPD集團的食品行業顧問。他說,價值268億美元的網上訂餐市場是美國餐館銷售增長最快的來源。
Online orders are only 5% of all restaurants orders, but they are growing about 20% each year. The number of restaurant visits remain unchanged.
網上訂餐僅佔所有餐廳訂單的5%,但每年增長約20%。前往店內就餐的人數比例維持不變。
The increase in online ordering in the U.S. has created openings for new kinds of businesses. One is called Kitchen United. It builds kitchens for restaurants that want to enter delivery or take-out markets. Chick-Fil-A, The Halal Guys and Dog Haus all have opened kitchens through them.
美國網上訂餐的增長為新型業務的發展創造了機會。其中一個名為「廚房聯盟」。該聯盟為那些想要進入外賣市場的餐館建造廚房。Chick-Fil-A、Halal Guys和Dog Haus都通過其開設了廚房。
Another company, DoorDash, delivers food to customers who order online. Fuad Hannon is the head of new business at DoorDash. He told the Associated Press that the industry is still young. It may be too soon to know how it will grow, he said, "but what we know is that people love to get their favorite restaurants delivered."
另一家公司DoorDash為在網上訂餐的顧客提供服務。Fuad Hannon是DoorDash公司新業務的負責人。他告訴美聯社,這個行業還很年輕。他說,現在還不知道該行業會如何發展,「但我們知道,顧客喜歡讓他們最中意的餐廳送貨上門。」
Two other businesses, Grubhub and Uber Eats, say their virtual restaurant programs help small businesses compete. Both reach out to restaurant owners with suggestions for online restaurants based on data from customer searches. This information helps owners think about everything from how people get their food to what should go on the menu.
另外兩家企業Grubhub和Uber Eats表示,它們的「虛擬餐廳」項目有助於小企業競爭。兩家公司都會根據顧客搜索數據,向餐廳老闆提供關於在線餐館的建議。這些信息有助於餐廳老闆思考從顧客訂餐方式到菜單的菜品調整等一系列問題。
Kristen Adamowski heads Uber Eats. She says they have helped launch 4,000 virtual restaurants worldwide, about half of them in the U.S. and Canada.
Kristen Adamowski是Uber Eats的負責人。她表示,他們已經在全球幫助成立了4000家虛擬餐廳,其中約半數位於美國和加拿大。
Virtual restaurants have the benefit of testing new ideas without taking on expensive leases or employing more workers, said Rick Carmac, with the Institute of Culinary Education in New York.
Institute of Culinary Education的Rick Carmac指出,虛擬餐廳的好處是可以測試新創意,而無需承擔昂貴租金或僱傭更多員工。
But he said small restaurants should look at the risks before starting an online restaurant suggested by third-party app businesses. Those businesses offer no training for kitchen staff to get used to making new foods.
但他表示,小型餐廳在開設第三方應用程式企業建議的在線餐廳前,應該慎重考慮風險。這些企業沒有為廚房員工提供培訓,讓他們適應製作新食物。
Other things to consider: whether their delivery containers are right for new dishes, or whether they want to increase their dependence on outside delivery drivers.
其他需要考慮的問題包括:他們的外賣配送箱是否適合裝新的菜品,或者他們是否希望增加對外部外賣配送員的依賴。
卡馬克曾在Uber Eats工作,他說,這些都不是小事,也並非易事。他對該公司的經營方法表示擔憂,他說:「他們交給你數據,然後甩手走人。」
Those are not small or easy things, said Carmac, who has worked with Uber Eats. He expressed concerns about the company's method, saying, "They give you the data, and then they leave."
防止遺忘,日後查找,點擊「在看」