7/22( Tue )Convenience Stores Transform Taiwan (Alice Chou)

[Alice Chou]

Can 7-Eleven Win Over Hong Kong Foodies?
It's just before noon on a Tuesday, and despite the rain, a few dozen schoolgirls in white uniforms and navy cardigans are milling about the 7-Eleven on Tong Chong Gai, a bustling Hong Kong side street of restaurants and cafés. A few of the teenagers grab chocolate milk and sushi rolls from the open chiller. The others queue up to order a hot lunch at the brand-new food counter that is manned by half a dozen employees in bright orange uniforms.
Welcome to Hong Kong's first 7 Café, part of the U.S. convenience-store chain's global foray into fast food. Part convenience store, part fast-food restaurant, the café opened its doors last month with a rotating menu featuring dishes you're more likely to see in a college cafeteria than a corner store: chicken fillet with onion and black-pepper sauce, Japanese udon noodles with curry, penne Bolognese. "We've been a snack destination," says Tim Chalk, commercial director of Dairy Farm, which holds the 7-Eleven area franchise for Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Guangdong. "We want to be a food destination."
Convenience stores have long been in the business of selling smokes, cold drinks and candy bars, but as consumers spend more and more on meals away from the home, ramping up food services is now seen as key to the industry's future. In Thailand, 7-Eleven sells burgers. In Japan, they fry their own chicken. In the U.S., a quarter of the chain's stores have rolled out oven-cooked pizzas. 7-Eleven's rival in Hong Kong, Circle K, serves toast and pasta dishes. "Convenience stores as an industry are heavily reliant on product categories such as cigarettes, which are under extreme pressure from a health and regulatory perspective," says Dennis Phelps, vice president for fresh food at 7-Eleven's corporate headquarters in Dallas. "People may choose to quit smoking, but they will not quit eating."
The convenience store already occupies a special place in the heart of Hong Kong. Although most of the stores are no bigger than a New York studio apartment, they're as ubiquitous as Starbucks in Seattle: there are nearly 1,000 7-Elevens in this city of 7 million — almost as many as in the whole state of California. (Circle K has a third of that number.) An estimated 85% of Hongkongers visit a 7-Eleven every month, according to the company, where they can do everything from withdraw money and replenish their subway passes to pay their electricity bill and send money overseas.
But in this food-obsessed city where the collision of Western and Chinese cuisines has created finely attuned tastes, trying to enter the fast-food market can be risky. Long before corporate chains began setting up shop, Hongkongers could find a quick meal at local cha chaan teng, or tea cafés, serving soup with noodles and meat, or storefront street vendors selling shao mai, or dumplings, and fish balls — spongy fried balls the size of jawbreakers that are made from minced fish and dough.
For years, 7-Eleven Hong Kong has shown deference to Hong Kong's love of food by offering ready-to-eat local fare like pork buns, shao mai and fish balls. (The more familiar roller-grill hot dogs and Slurpees are also available at some of the stores.) In fact, Casey Lum, who researches extensively on Hong Kong food culture and is the director of graduate studies in communication at William Paterson University, says part of the company's success in Hong Kong is due to the fact that it has become a "glocal" chain — a global brand adapted to local tastes and habits. For taxi drivers working the overnight shift, for instance, 7-Eleven is often the only place they can stop for a quick Cantonese snack. (See the top 10 food trends of 2008.)
But when it comes to a full meal, wooing customers away from their favorite haunts could be a challenge. Many of the street vendors, as well as the cha chaan teng and noodle shops, have deep roots in the community, and customers go to them intentionally to eat. Corporate global chains may be fine for a snack but "are not perceived to be authentic" when it comes to a meal, says Stephen Wong, program director of HKU/SPACE and a former food columnist for the Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao. "People know they're from the States. People expect an authentic American flavor," he says. While U.S. brands are well-trusted in a city with widespread concerns about hygiene and food safety, Shaun Rein, managing director of the China Market Research Group, isn't convinced this will translate into a successful restaurant business. "7-Eleven is going to have a hard time," Rein says.
Others think the model could take off. "I don't think 7-Eleven is competing with street vendors per se because the crowd is different," says Lum. "The younger generation may go to 7-Eleven a lot more easily than those people who are older." Back at the café on Tong Chong Gai, he appears to be correct. Loretta, 16, orders her lunch of laksa, a curry noodle soup. She says she likes the variety here. Plus, she says, "it's new." Vivian, 17, picks a temaki roll off the shelf and says she comes here because it's cheap. "They don't want to spend much money on lunch because they want to save it for entertainment," she says, referring to the friends around her.
For now, 7 Café seems to have captured young Hong Kong's attention. Whether the chain can keep it remains to be seen. Says another girl, as she opens a container holding a chicken fillet with mushroom gravy: "Today I go here, but maybe tomorrow I'll go to another store."
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Session 1.
Q 1. As we know, 7-11 provides many services. Please list 5 as well as which one you use the most and why.

Q 2. Taiwan is ranked first in the world in convenience stores per capita. With such a high density population, why do you think so many convenient stores are needed in Taiwan?

Q 3. Does a high unemployment rate have a direct relationship with sales growth of convenient stores?

Session 2.
Q 4. How do City Coffee and Starbucks bypass the conflict of coming from a uni-president? Even though the price gap is evident, can you notice a difference in quality and service?

Q 5. Under what circumstances, do you eat food from 7-11? How do you like it? Please share your thoughts and opinions of the food 7-11 offers.

Q 6. A popular feature of 7-11 is redeeming rewards points for prizes. Why do you think these promotions are so successful with the consumers?

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Agenda:
6:45 ~ 7:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
7:50 ~ 8:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
8:10 ~ 8:25pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
8:25 ~ 9:05pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
9:05 ~ 9:25pm Summarization (20 mins)
9:25 ~ 9:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements ***************************************************************************************************************
聚會日期：列於該貼文主題內
聚會時間：當天請準時於 6:45 pm 到達 ~ 約 9:30 pm 左右結束
聚會時間：當天請準時於 6:45 pm 到達 ~ 約 9:30 pm 左右結束
星期二聚會地點：丹堤濟南店
地址、電話：台北市濟南路三段25號 地圖 (02) 2740-2350 (02) 2740-2350 免費
捷運站：板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法：出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後，沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘，到了濟南路口，左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
注意事項：
1. 文章是否需要列印請自行斟酌，但與會者請務必自行列印 Questions for discussion。
2. 與會者請先閱讀過文章，並仔細想過所有的問題，謝謝合作！

給新朋友的話：
1. 請事先準備 2~3 分鐘的英語自我介紹；會議結束前可能會請你發表 1~2 分鐘的感想。
2. 請事先閱讀文章以及主持人所提的討論問題，並事先寫下自己所欲發表意見的英文。
3. 全程以英語進行，參加者應具備中等英語會話能力，對任一討論問題，能夠以 5 到 10 句英文表達個人見解。
4. 在正式加入之前，可以先來觀摩三次，觀摩者亦須參與討論。正式加入需繳交終身會費 NT$1,000。

[Robert Chao]

Dear,
This is a great topic. It's a pity that I cannot show up. Hope you guys have a good time and my brother who offers you the idea would go!

[Wayne]

Words and Expressions 0722 2013

butler: (男性)管家
bypass: 避開
calorie count: 熱量表
collectible: 收藏品
courier service: 快遞服務
gimmick: 要訣； 訣竅
price gap: 價差
redeem: 兌換(獎品)；(股票、債券) 贖回
taxi dispatch service: 計程車派遣(叫車)服務
vacuum cleaner: 吸塵器
大腸桿菌: bacillus coli; Escherichia coli (e. coli)
幼稚: juvenile
考試簡章: exam bulletin
異業結盟: strategic alliance between different business sectors

Vocabulary for the article
milling out: (一群人) 走來走去
Tong Chong Gai: [粵語]糖廠街
bustling: 熱鬧的
chiller: 冰櫃
foray: 試賣
chicken fillet: 雞排
penne Bolongnese: 義大利波隆拿的斜管麵
ramping up: 增加
replenish… subway pass: 地鐵車票卡加值
attuned: 熟悉的；習慣了的
cha chaan teng: [粵語]茶餐廳
spongy fried balls: 酥炸丸子
jawbreakers: 圓形硬幣大小的硬糖果
deference: 順從
Slurpees: 思樂冰
wooing: 尋求… 的支持
Ming Pao: 明報(香港報紙)
laksa: 沙叻 (星加坡咖哩麵)
temaki roll: 手卷

[Wayne]

Attendance: 18
Alice, Charles (a.k.a.Chivas), C.I.T., Claire, Eddie Chiang, Finess, J.D., Kat, Li-wen, Maggie, Mark, Steve, Tom Hung (newcomer), Tom Li, Victor, & Wayne

Speakers:
Session I: Finess, Max, Tom Hung, & Wayne
Session II: Eddie, Ian,Maggie, & Max,