澳洲将推出热薯条自动贩卖机

A Western Australian company has made a hot chip vending machine that deep fries frozen chips while you wait.

澳大利亚西部一家公司设计出一款热薯条自动贩卖机，在顾客等候期间能自动将冷冻薯条烤制成热腾腾的薯条。

While the idea has occurred to many who have stared sadly at the closed sign of the local takeaway at 3am before stumbling home for a disappointing slice of toast, the successful execution took years of work.

凌晨三点，人们幽怨的盯一眼外卖餐馆前暂时歇业的告示牌，而后踩着无力的脚步回家啃令人毫无胃口、索然无味的面包片时，脑海通常会闪过一个念头：如果有一台热食自动售卖机该多好，这种想法历经多年终于变成了现实。

It’s the latest venture of the Perth businessman Peter Malone, best known for his turn as managing director of collapsed telecommunications company New Tel, the $2.5bn business he founded with his best man in 1988.

这是澳大利亚珀斯城（Perth）商人彼得·马隆（Peter Malone）最新的风险项目，其最为人熟知的身份是电信公司New Tel总经理一职，这是他在1988年与其男傧相携手建立的公司，在即将倒闭前，该公司曾有过25亿美元的辉煌。

New Tel was publicly listed in 1999 and raised $150m from the market before its promise of being “the America Online of China” fell flat. When the company went into administration in 2002 it owed creditors almost $50m. Both Telstra and Optus were owed $10m.

New Tel于1999年上市，在其推行的“在中国实现与美国的自由通讯”计划失败之前，曾从市场中筹集到1.5亿美元，2002年，公司因计划失败亏欠股东近5000万美元，改由政府接管。当时澳大利亚电信公司（Telstra）和澳都斯公司（Optus ）皆负债1000万美元。

Malone, who heads The Hot Chips Company, said the vending machine’s development began more than 10 years ago when his group of business associates began tracking failed attempts by other companies.

担任热薯条公司（The Hot Chips Company）执行董事的马隆表示，早在十多年前，当其商业团队与其他公司失去监管联系时便开始研发这款自动贩卖机。

He said their machine, which has just passed the trial stage and will start commercial production this year, fried the chips in a 10-litre vat of rice bran oil in the belly of the machine.

马隆称，这款机器不久前刚通过试验阶段，将于今年投入商业化生产，薯条会在含有10升米糠油的机体内烤制。

The technology used in the final design, which relies on a robotic arm to catch the chips in a cup and then serve them up to the waiting customer, has only become available in recent years.

后期设计采用的技术通过机械手臂将薯条置于杯中，递交给等候中的顾客。该技术是近年来才进入实用阶段的。

Malone suggested the chips could qualify for the Heart Foundation tick because they were fried in cholesterol-free oil. He said the risk of food poisoning was minimal because “potatoes are very much an inert product”.

马隆认为，这种薯条会得到心脏基金会（Heart Foundation）的认证，因为它是采用不含胆固醇的食用油煎制而成的。他称食物中毒的可能性非常小，因为“土豆具有化学惰性。”

The potato selection was no easy task. Stephen Bendotti is a director of the potato processing company Bendotti Exporters and WA Chip, which supplies the chips. He said it had taken a lot of trial and error to make frozen chips that would cook properly within minutes.

挑选土豆绝非易事。其供应商是从事土豆加工和出口的本多蒂出口公司（Bendotti Exporters）和WA 薯条公司（WA Chip），担任这两家公司董事的史蒂芬·本多蒂（Stephen Bendotti）表示，为制作出可在数分钟内烤制而成的冷冻薯条，他们进行了很多试验，也经历了不少失败。

The exact makeup of the chips is a closely guarded secret, but Bendotti said they were likely to be more uniform than ordinary ones. “It has to be the perfect size and length so it doesn’t get lodged in the machine,” he said.

薯条实际形状仍是一个机密，但据本多蒂透露，它们很有可能比普通薯条具有更标准的外形。本多蒂说，“它们的形状和长度必须很统一，所以并不存放在机器里。”

Bendotti Exporters has had a working vending machine in its Manjimup headquarters, about 300km south of Perth, for several years. It’s a favourite with staff and is used to give demonstrations to potato growers.

早在数年前，本多蒂土豆出口公司位于曼吉马普（Manjimup）的总部（距离珀斯以南约3万公里）就有一台投入使用的自动售卖机，不仅深受员工喜爱，还能为土豆种植商提供样本。

“It’s like a mini fish and chip shop,” Bendotti said. “It’s got a freezer at the top, a fryer in the middle and you collect your chips at the bottom. It’s about the size of a Coke machine.”

“它就像一家售卖鱼和薯条的小型商店，”本多蒂解释道，“上层是冷冻柜，中层是烤箱，顾客从下层拿出锅的薯条，如可乐售卖机一般大小。”

The machines are available for public use in two service stations in Adelaide and at the Ibis Budget airport hotel in Perth.

如今在位于阿德莱德城（Adelaide）和珀斯机场宜必思经济酒店（Ibis Budget airport hotel）的两个服务站均设有这款贩卖机供公众使用。

Malone said the company planned to manufacture 200 of them by the end of the year, with production increasing to 1,000 machines in 2016 and 5,000 in 2017. He said they would probably be sold into service station chains and should be available throughout Australia within 12 months. The next step would be taking on the international market.

马隆称，公司计划在今年年底前制造出200台这样的机器，并计划于2016年与2017年分别增产至1000台和5000台。他表示，机子可能售往连锁服务站，因而可在一年内遍布整个澳大利亚，而下一个目标就是进军国际市场。

“This will be bigger [than New Tel],” Malone said. “It’s popular worldwide. We don’t need to go and tell people that a chip is something that they should eat.”

“公司规模将比New Tel更大，”马隆说道，“它会走红全球，因为我们不需要告诉人们，薯条是种能吃的东西。”

Vocabulary

vending: 贩卖的

takeaway: 外卖食品

stumble: 蹒跚

cholesterol: 胆固醇

inert: [化学] 惰性的