中国餐饮集团瞄准“单身经济”

With diners gathered around cauldrons of boiling soup, dropping meat and vegetables into the broth, hot pot is a quintessentially communal Chinese dish. But the country’s dominant chain has a new weapon to attract single diners: stuffed bears.

火锅是中国共餐制文化的典型，通常是一群食客围坐在沸腾的汤锅旁，将肉和蔬菜放入锅里。但中国一家著名火锅连锁店动用了一个新武器来吸引单身食客：毛绒熊。

The introduction of large plush toys to accompany solo diners in the some 200 outlets of the Haidilao chain highlights the efforts of businesses in China to take advantage of a demographic shift creating a rising number of single consumers.

“海底捞”(Haidilao)在旗下大约200家连锁店推出用大型毛绒玩具陪伴单身食客，此举突显了中国企业力求抓住人口结构变化所造成的日益庞大的单身消费者群体。

“They help people feel less lonely,” said Wang Ping, a waitress at a Haidilao in Shanghai, suggesting the Financial Times choose between a large teddy bear and a stuffed yellow chicken.

海底捞上海一家分店的服务员王萍(音译)说：“它们有助于让人们感到没那么孤单。”她建议英国《金融时报》记者选一只大泰迪熊，或一只毛绒黄鸡。

China’s population of adults living alone has grown by 16 per cent since 2012 to reach 77m, according to government statistics compiled by consultancy Euromonitor. By 2021 the number is set to rise to 92m.

据咨询公司欧睿(Euromonitor)汇编的政府统计数据，2012年以来中国成年独居人口增长了16%，达到7700万。到2021年，该数字将上升到9200万。

The shift is driven by a trend towards later marriage in China, led by prosperous cities. In Shanghai, the average first marriage age for women has reached 30, up from 27 in 2011. Marriages are also shorter due to a doubling of the divorce rate in the past decade.

这一转变是由富裕的大都市带动的晚婚趋势推动的。在上海，妇女平均初婚年龄已经达到30岁，高于2011年的27岁。由于过去10年里离婚率翻了一番，婚姻持续时间也缩短了。

Demographers estimate that a gender imbalance created by China’s one child policy means tens of millions of men may never marry. As a result, 16 per cent of China’s urban population now lives alone, according to the Boston Consulting Group.

人口学家估计，中国独生子女政策造成的性别不平衡意味着，数千万男性可能永远不会结婚。其结果是，据波士顿咨询集团(Boston Consulting Group)研究，中国16%的城市人口现在独自居住。

“The trend is accompanied by a profound change in people’s perceptions of remaining single: the concept is no longer stigmatised,” the group said in a recent report, meaning singles “dine, travel and pursue activities by themselves”.

波士顿咨询集团在最近一份报告中表示：“这一趋势伴随着人们对单身人群看法的深刻改变，单身概念不再带有污名。”这意味着“单身人士会自己就餐、旅行和从事各种活动”。

Companies have responded to the trend, which mirrors demographic shifts already experienced by China’s east Asian neighbours South Korea and Japan. Japanese chain Muji has introduced smaller rice cookers, ovens and kettles aimed at Chinese singles.

企业已对这一趋势(该趋势映衬了中国的东亚近邻韩国和日本已经出现的人口结构变化)作出了回应。日本无印良品(Muji)连锁店针对中国单身人群已推出了小型电饭煲、烤箱和水壶。

Alibaba created Singles Day each November 11 as a celebration of the unattached lifestyle. It is now an annual consumer juggernaut, racking up Rmb120.7bn ($17.8bn) of sales in China in one day last year.

阿里巴巴打造了每年11月11日的“光棍节”，以庆祝单身生活。这一节日现在已成为一场年度消费狂欢，去年该节日的销售额达到1207亿元人民币(合178亿美元)。

Asked on what they would most like to spend their time, China’s singles chose watching films online and travelling “to make their plain and mundane lives more exciting”, according to a recent report by consultancy Mintel. They are “less likely to travel for the connection with their family or shopping compared to married people,” preferring sightseeing and experiencing local culture, the report adds.

根据咨询公司英敏特(Mintel)最近一份报告，在被问及他们最喜欢怎样打发时间时，中国的单身人士选择在网上看电影和旅行“来让平凡单调的生活更加精彩”。报告还说，他们“与已婚人士相比，旅行在更大程度上不是为了家庭团聚或者购物，”而是为了观光和体验风土人情。

Food delivery services have benefited from the trend. The sector saw 44 per cent sales growth in China last year, according to consultancy Bain. Yang Gengshen, a spokesman for Ele.me, one of China’s largest delivery services, which reported sales growth of 127 per cent in the first half of this year, said: “In my experience, very few single people are willing to cook for themselves.”

送餐服务从这一趋势受益匪浅。根据咨询公司贝恩(Bain)的统计，去年中国该行业销售额增长了44%。中国最大网上订餐平台之一、报告今年上半年销售增长127%的“饿了么”(Ele.me)的发言人杨耕身表示：“根据我的经验，单身人士很少愿意自己做饭。”

Meituan-Dianping, a restaurant review and food delivery company, which was valued at $18bn in a funding round last week, said 65 per cent of its orders came from unmarried customers, with fast food the most popular order for single consumers.

餐馆点评和餐饮外卖公司美团点评(Meituan-Dianping)在最近一轮融资中估值达180亿美元。据该公司介绍，其65%的订单来自未婚客户，而单身消费者最喜欢点快餐。

“Single are the most important group of customers for us,” said Wang Pu Zhong, general manager of Meituan’s on-demand delivery service. “Chinese food is quite complicated . . . it takes a lot of time, so single people will think it is a waste of time compared to ordering take-out,” he added.

美团点评外卖和配送事业部总经理王莆中表示：“单身人群是我们最重要的客户群体。中国菜是很复杂的……做起来需要很多时间，所以单身人士认为，比起点外卖，自己做是浪费时间。”

Single eaters are a common sight in fast food restaurants and convenience stores, but more upscale restaurants have found it hard to attract singles because of a continued stigma about dining alone. “We only get a few single customers each day,” said Ms Wang, the waitress.

单身食客是快餐店和便利店的常见景象，但较高档的餐厅仍较难吸引单身消费者，因为独自用餐还是件羞耻的事。服务员王萍说：“我们每天只有几个单身顾客。”

Shanghai singleton Chen Nie, 23, experienced a gamut of emotions when offered a teddy bear at Haidilao. "I was shocked at first. Then I felt warm,” she said. “But in the end I felt awkward because it reminded me of the fact that I'm single.”

23岁的上海单身人士陈聂在海底捞进餐时，对于店方提供泰迪熊“陪吃”的提议百感交集。她说：“首先我感到很震惊，然后感到了温暖。但是最后我觉得很尴尬，因为它让我想起了自己单身这一事实。”