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Online Food Ordering Gives Rise to ‘Virtual’ Restaurants

外卖平台兴起催生虚拟厨房

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.

说到吃饭，越来越多的美国人开始点餐而不是外出用餐。在一些餐馆，厨师同时为其他在线餐馆提供服务。

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，芝加哥的家庭餐厅Frato's Pizza。厨师们在厨房内制作披萨饼。但是他们也制作鸡肉、鲑鱼甚至是冰冻牛奶饮料——所有这些都只能在网上订餐。

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，为了紧跟新兴的饮食潮流，Frato的老板迈克尔·库德纳(Michael Kudrna)成立了这家只提供网络订餐的公司。他说，店里三分之一的销售额来自在手机上使用第三方应用程序的用户。但这些销量也让他苦不堪言。第三方应用程序会收取高达30%的费用承担食物的订购和配送问题。

David Portalatin is a food industry adviser for the NPD group.

大卫·波特兰蒂（David Portalatin）是NPD集团的食品行业顾问。

He says the $26.8 billion online ordering market is the fastest-growing source of restaurant sales in the U.S.

他说，价值268亿美元的网上订餐市场是美国餐馆销售增长最快的来源。

Online orders are only 5% of all restaurants orders, but they are growing about 20% each year. The number of restaurant visits remain unchanged.

网上订餐仅占所有餐厅订单的5%，但每年增长约20%。前往店内就餐的人数比例维持不变。

One kitchen, many restaurants

一“厨”多用

The increase in online ordering in the U.S. has created openings for new kinds of businesses.

美国网上订餐的增长为新型业务的发展创造了机会。

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.

其中一个名为“厨房联盟”。该联盟为那些想要进入外卖市场的餐馆建造厨房。Chick-Fil-A、Halal Guys和Dog Haus都通过其开设了厨房。

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为在网上订餐的顾客提供服务。福阿德·汉农（Fuad Hannon）是DoorDash公司新业务的负责人。他告诉美联社，这个行业还很年轻。他说，现在还不知道该行业会如何发展，“但我们知道，顾客喜欢让他们最中意的餐厅送货上门。”

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.

另外两家企业Grubhub和Uber Eats表示，它们的“虚拟餐厅”项目有助于小企业竞争。两家公司都会根据顾客搜索数据，向餐厅老板提供关于在线餐馆的建议。这些信息有助于餐厅老板思考从顾客订餐方式到菜单的菜品调整等一系列问题。

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.

克里斯汀（Kristen Adamowski）是Uber Eats的负责人。她表示，他们已经在全球帮助成立了4000家虚拟餐厅，其中约半数位于美国和加拿大。

The good and the bad

利弊并存

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.

纽约烹饪教育学院(Institute of Culinary Education)的里克·卡马克(Rick Carmac)指出，虚拟餐厅的好处是可以测试新创意，而无需承担昂贵租金或雇佣更多员工。

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，小型餐厅在开设第三方应用程序企业建议的在线餐厅前，应该慎重考虑风险。这些企业没有为厨房员工提供培训，让他们适应制作新食物。

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.

其他需要考虑的问题包括：他们的外卖配送箱是否适合装新的菜品，或者他们是否希望增加对外部外卖配送员的依赖。

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."

卡马克曾在Uber Eats工作，他说，这些都不是小事，也并非易事。他对该公司的经营方法表示担忧，他说：“他们交给你数据，然后甩手走人。”

I'm Anne Ball.

安妮·波尔为您播报。