麦当劳的奥运“嘉年华”

Normally, McDonald's Corp. doesn't shutter a restaurant three weeks after opening it. Yet it has opened four restaurants inside the Beijing Games, a market that later this month will fold up like a carnival.

But don't imagine McDonald's selling cheeseburgers out of a tent. It has spent months constructing four large eateries whose doors will close Aug. 26, barely three weeks after opening.

These temporary McDonald's reflect a company quest to be the dominant diner on the world's largest stage, an opportunity that comes at the astronomical cost -- as much as an estimated $80 million -- of being a top Olympic sponsor. Inside the Games, visitors, athletes and journalists looking for a bite to eat will see little other than the Golden Arches, like it or not, and McDonald's hopes they will like it.

But there's the rub: In markets around the world, McDonald's modifies its menu to accommodate local taste. So how does it serve an Olympic audience that is Asian, European, African, Australian and American?

As it has in past Olympics, McDonald's, Oak Brook, Ill., decided this year to stick with what made it famous -- Big Macs, Chicken McNuggets and french fries. As part of a world-wide effort to boost breakfast sales, the Egg McMuffin is making its Olympic debut.

Not that local tastes are being ignored. The menu features corn kernels, a staple of McDonald's Chinese menu, along with a chicken sandwich flavored to appeal to local palates.

Still, in a year when many Olympic sponsors are seeking to romance the burgeoning Chinese market, McDonald's doesn't view the Games as key to unlocking a market where it already operates about 950 restaurants. 'If you haven't connected yet [with China], the Olympics is not going to get you there,' says Johan Jervoe, McDonald's corporate vice president of global marketing.

Unlike other new restaurants, temporary units must operate at peak performance from day one -- in this case with a newly assembled work force hailing from 36 countries around the world.

These employees are the winners of a companywide competition to land a spot at the Beijing Games, based on behind-the-counter performance back home. Each crew member wears a patch indicating which languages he speaks. Menu items are listed in Chinese and English, and speakers of neither language can point at large photographs of food.

After the Games, these restaurants will be dismantled, their parts repurposed, possibly for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics or the London Summer Games of 2012. The traveling McDonald's isn't a new concept. At the 2004 Games in Athens, McDonald's diners ate at the exact same restaurant that had served the 2000 Games in Sydney.

通常来说，麦当劳(McDonald's Corp.)的餐厅不会在开业仅仅三周后就被关闭。不过，麦当劳在北京奥运场馆开设的四家餐厅到本月晚些时候将随着赛事的结束而消失，就像一场盛大的嘉年华般曲终人散。

不过，麦当劳可不是在帐篷里卖三明治。它花了几个月时间建了4家大餐厅。这些餐厅将在8月26日关门谢客，也就是奥运会开幕大约三周后。

开设临时餐厅反映了麦当劳希望在奥运这个世界最大的舞台上成为当仁不让的餐馆老大，这是它花费8,000万美元天价成为奥运顶级赞助商才得到的机会。奥运期间，游客、运动员和记者在场馆附近除了麦当劳将基本看不到其他餐馆的影子，不论喜不喜欢。当然，麦当劳肯定希望他们喜欢。

但这里有一个头疼的问题：麦当劳在世界各地都会根据当地口味调整菜单，那么，在奥运会这样一个同时聚集了五大洲各种人群的地方，又该如何应对呢？

麦当劳最后决定，像在往届奥运会时一样，它将供应自己最拿手的东西──巨无霸、麦乐鸡和法式炸薯条。同时，麦当劳的麦满分(Egg McMuffin)也首次出现在此次奥运餐厅中，这是该公司提振全球早餐销售的措施之一。

不过，当地口味也未被忽视。这里也供应有麦当劳中国餐厅常见的玉米杯以及迎合当地人口味的鸡肉三明治。

不过，在今年许多赞助商都希望在方兴未艾的中国市场上拼一把的时候，麦当劳却并不认为奥运会对它进入中国有多关键，毕竟它在这里已经开有950家餐厅。“如果你还没有搭上中国这班车，奥运会也未必能让你做到，”麦当劳全球营销副总裁约汉·杰佛(Johan Jervoe)说。

跟麦当劳其他新开餐馆不同，临时餐厅必须从开业第一天起就立刻进入角色。麦当劳这4家餐厅是从全世界36个国家临时抽调员工组建的。

这些员工是麦当劳从全公司范围举行的竞赛中选拔出的优胜者，选拔主要根据他们平时的工作表现。每位员工身上都佩带标牌，显示他会讲哪些语言。菜单采用中文和英文，不会说这两种语言的人可以直接点大幅食物照片示意。

奥运会后，这些餐厅将拆除，所用材料可能会留待2010年温哥华冬奥会乃至2012年伦敦奥运会继续使用。“流动麦当劳”并非新创，2004年雅典奥运会上营业的麦当劳餐厅就是曾在2000年悉尼奥运会上“服役”的那家。 （实习编辑：顾萍）