The problems McDonalds is facing could be divided into two parts—the first part is the increase competition in fast-food business; the second part is the negative public opinion on the fast-food industry. For the first reason, at the present days, McDonald now has more and more competitors not only in fast-food industry, but also in the substitutable industry including catering industry and food industry. For example, since the early 21st century, KFC Co., one of McDonalds’ biggest competitors started its global rapid expansion. Today, the KFC now has over 20,000 restaurants in over 120 countries around the world (KFC Official Website). The number of KFC’s outlets is similar to that of the McDonald’s, which means that this competitor has shared about half of McDonald’s market. The second part is the influence of the public opinion on fast-food industry. With the development of the society and people’s awareness of food health, more and more people would regard McDonalds as junk food because of its high-fat and high-sugar recipes. These years, McDonalds tried so hard to improve its recipes so as to make them healthier. However, these efforts do not bring interests or better economic returns. On the contrary, the new recipes could not appeal to its old customers (Watrous 1). Some customers even refuse the new but healthier McDonalds.
译文:麦当劳面临的问题可以分为两部分——第一部分是快餐业竞争的加剧;第二部分是公众对快餐行业的负面舆论。第一个原因,在当今,麦当劳不仅在快餐行业有越来越多的竞争对手,而且在可替代行业包括餐饮业和食品行业。例如,自21世纪初以来,麦当劳最大的竞争对手之一肯德基公司开始了全球快速扩张。如今,肯德基在全球120多个国家拥有2万多家餐厅(肯德基官网)。肯德基的门店数量与麦当劳相似,这意味着这个竞争对手占据了麦当劳大约一半的市场。第二部分是舆论对快餐业的影响。随着社会的发展和人们对食品健康意识的提高,越来越多的人将麦当劳视为垃圾食品,因为它的高脂肪和高糖的食谱。这些年来,麦当劳很努力地改进它的食谱,使他们更健康。然而,这些努力并没有带来利益或更好的经济回报。相反,新的食谱不能吸引它的老顾客(Watrous 1)。一些顾客甚至拒绝新的但更健康的麦当劳。