汉堡王送餐服务开辟快餐行业新战线？

    很难想象，快餐还能如何变得比现在的样子更简单。但是，汉堡王（Burger King）正在寻求实现这样一种场景，消费者只需要拨打一个电话、或者点击一下鼠标就能买到华堡（Whopper）。

    汉堡王最近推出了送货上门服务，这是这个快餐连锁店一项巨大努力的组成部分，即努力从掉队的人变成行业的领跑者。3月份传出消息，根据市场研究公司Technomic对美国各快餐连锁店2011年销售情况的分析，温蒂汉堡（Wendy's）已经取代汉堡王成为快餐汉堡市场的第二大连锁店【到目前为止，麦当劳（McDonald's）仍然是行业领导者】。

    汉堡连锁市场竞争激烈，成功的国内送货上门业务将开辟另一条战线——在美国之外，快餐汉堡送货服务十分普遍。送货服务是一个未得充分利用、但可能有利可图的机会。据派杰公司（Piper Jaffray）分析师尼科尔·米勒·雷根称，在整个餐饮行业，送货上门食品的收费比店内用餐的同类食品平均要高出20%。

    汉堡王在这里发现了消费者的利益：公司数据显示，在其华盛顿特区门店的送货上门测试中，90%的消费者表示喜欢汉堡王的这项服务，并会再次预订。今年10月，汉堡王在佛罗里达州南部试点送货上门服务，并在11月推广到了休斯顿和纽约，使提供这项服务的门店数量增加到71家。

    从快餐店订餐的方式有很多——店内用餐、“得来速”以及外卖——所以一些连锁店不提供送货上门服务几乎称得上令人惊讶。餐饮行业分析师指出，送货上门服务如今已经成为消费者的一种预期，而不是什么额外的好处。

    然而，汉堡连锁店要提供这种服务无法像一般比萨饼店那样容易，主要有两个原因：操作的复杂性，还有就是湿软的薯条。 经营一家快餐连锁店已经是一项复杂的事业了，店内用餐和“得来速”是两种独立的业务，如果再加上第三种送货上门，很可能会拖累服务的速度。如果快餐连锁店的服务速度变慢了，招待的消费者就会变少，相应的利润也就变得更稀薄了。

    更重要的是，汉堡连锁店提供送货上门服务的意愿通常跟薯条不适于运送这一事实是冲突的。“所有人主要关心的都是，‘薯条该怎样保存呢？’”亚历克斯·马塞多说。他是汉堡王的高级副总裁兼美国特许经营业务的总经理。

    It's hard to imagine fast food getting much simpler than it is today. But Burger King is looking to put some of its customers just a call or click away from a Whopper.

    The burger chain's recent push into home delivery is part of a larger effort to move from fast-food straggler to industry frontrunner. In March, Wendy's snagged second place from Burger King (BKW) in the fast food hamburger market, according to research group Technomic's analysis of the chains' 2011 U.S. sales (McDonald's is, by far, the industry leader.).

    A successful domestic home delivery business -- fast food hamburger delivery is common outside the U.S. -- would open yet another battlefront among the highly competitive burger chains. Delivery is an underutilized but potentially lucrative opportunity. Across the entire restaurant industry, delivery checks are on average 20% greater then their dine- in counterparts, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Nicole Miller Regan.

    Burger King has found that the consumer interest is there: Company data show that in the restaurant's original Washington D.C home delivery test, 90% of customers said that they liked BK delivery and would order again. The burger chain launched a home delivery pilot in south Florida in October, and in November, they moved into Houston and New York, bringing the tally of delivery locations to 71.

    There are so many methods of ordering from a fast-food restaurant -- dine in, drive-thru, and take out -- that it's almost surprising that some chains don't do delivery. Restaurant analysts note delivery is now an expectation among customers, not a bonus.

    Delivery, however, doesn't come as easily to burger chains as it does to your average pizzeria, for two primary reasons: operational complexity and soggy French fries. Running a fast food chain is already a complex enterprise. Dine-in and drive-thru are two separate businesses, and adding a third -- delivery – could easily slow down service. Slower fast food chains serve fewer customers and see smaller profits.

    More importantly, fast-food burger delivery aspirations often collide with the fact that French fries simply don't travel well. "Everyone's main concern is, 'How do the French fries hold?'" says Alex Macedo, senior vice president and general manager of U.S. franchise business for Burger King.