海底撈赴港上市，它能征服海外食客嗎？

Sometimes, Shang Feifei goes to a restaurant just for the manicures.

有時，尚飛飛(音)去那家餐館只是為了美甲。

On a recent Wednesday night, Ms. Shang, 40, sat patiently at a downtown Beijing branch of Haidilao, a restaurant chain that defies China’s well-earned reputation for lousy customer service. A Haidilao employee buffed and painted her nails, free. The aroma from bubbling broth-filled pots lingered in the air.

前不久的一個周三晚上，40歲的尚飛飛耐心地坐在北京市中心的一家海底撈分店，中國的消費者服務以糟糕著稱，這家連鎖餐館卻打破了這樣的名聲。海底撈的一名員工為她免費打磨指甲、涂上顏色。鍋中的肉湯冒著泡，香氣在空氣中飄蕩。

Ms. Shang wasn’t planning to stay to eat after she got her pink, glittery nails done. For her, the food was secondary to the experience.

尚飛飛的美甲做完了，粉紅色的指甲閃閃發(fā)光，之后她并不打算繼續(xù)用餐。她這次來，食物是次要的。

“I find Haidilao’s special services so entertaining,” said Ms. Shang, who comes to Haidilao every week to get her manicures. “Like the free pedicures, the photo printing machine, Chinese checkers and origami.”Hot pot, in which diners cook their own meat and vegetables in a boiling broth, is a favorite meal in China. And Haidilao is China’s most popular hot pot chain, mostly because of how employees go all out to greet, serve and entertain.

“我覺得海底撈這些特殊服務都太好玩了，”尚飛飛說，她每周都來海底撈做美甲。“比如免費美甲、照片打印機、中國象棋和折紙。”吃火鍋時，食客在沸騰的湯里自己煮肉和蔬菜，這是深受中國人喜歡的飲食。海底撈則是中國最受歡迎的火鍋連鎖店，主要是因為員工全力以赴，接待、服務和娛樂客人。

Haidilao hopes people outside China will be as captivated. It is set to raise nearly $1 billion on Wednesday in an initial public offering in Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese city where foreign investors are free to buy up shares. It wants to use the money to expand, including beyond its overseas locations in California and New York as well as other countries.

海底撈希望中國以外的人也會迷上它。該公司將于周三在香港進行首次公開募股，籌資近10億美元，香港是一個半自治的中國城市，外國投資者在這里可以自由購買股票。海底撈希望利用這筆資金進行擴張，它目前在加利福尼亞州、紐約以及其他一些國家已有海外分店。

But outside China, it could be a harder sell.“It was disgusting that people were waiting and having their nails clipped,” Joel Silverstein, chief executive of the East West Hospitality Group, a restaurant consultancy based in Hong Kong, said of a Haidilao outlet he visited in mainland China.

但是在中國以外，它要推銷自己可能會更難。“人們一邊等餐一邊修指甲是令人作嘔的，”香港餐廳咨詢公司東西迎客集團(East West Hospitality Group)的首席執(zhí)行官喬伊·西爾弗斯坦(Joel Silverstein)談到他去過的一家海底撈中國大陸門店時說。

“In the U.S., it would be a total violation of health codes to be doing that stuff,” he added. “But the thing I’ve learned about China is, Chinese people love over-the-top service as long as they don’t have to pay for it.”

“在美國，做這些事情完全違反衛(wèi)生法規(guī)，”他補充說。“但我對中國的了解是，中國人喜歡夸張的服務，只要他們不需為此付費。”

A different chain made global headlines when a diner found a dead rat in her hot pot. The Chinese company vowed to get to the bottom of the matter.

在另一家連鎖餐廳，一位食客在火鍋中發(fā)現(xiàn)一只死老鼠，令這家店登上了全球新聞。那家中國公司發(fā)誓要徹查此事。

In a country where service without a smile is still the norm in many places, Haidilao earns its loyalty. Customers are offered free shoe-shining services and board games while they wait. Diners can watch a traditional Sichuan opera show. Eating with toddlers? “A “playground sister” will keep them entertained.Patrons in China sometimes line up for hours to get into one of Haidilao’s nearly 300 domestic restaurants. A 2016 survey of 2,600 people conducted by OC&C, a consulting firm, ranked Haidilao as China’s favorite restaurant. Its dining experience was cited in a Harvard Business School case study in 2011.

沒有微笑的服務員仍然是中國許多地方的常態(tài)，海底撈在這里贏得了忠誠。客戶在等餐期間可獲得免費擦鞋服務和棋盤游戲。用餐者還可以觀看傳統(tǒng)的川劇變臉表演。帶幼兒一起用餐?一個“游樂園姐姐”會帶著他們玩。中國顧客有時會為吃海底撈排隊幾小時，它目前在國內(nèi)擁有近300家餐廳。2016年由咨詢公司OC&C對2600人進行的一項調查顯示，海底撈是中國最受歡迎的餐廳。2011年的哈佛商學院案例研究引用了在海底撈的就餐體驗。

“The staff here gives you the feeling that you are a family member,” said Liu Lu, 42, a stay-at-home mother who said that the chain’s employees would arrange a crib for her baby so she could indulge in the hot pot without a care.

“跟這里，店員都跟自己家人(一樣)，”42歲的全職母親劉鷺說，這家連鎖店的員工會為她的孩子安排嬰兒床，這樣她就可以不用照顧孩子，全心享受火鍋。

Hot pot — known in China as huo guo, or fire pot — was originally consumed to ward off the cold of winter. It is now a year-round cuisine. Chinese diners love the participatory nature of the cooking process: People gather around a pot of boiling broth, dunk their meats in it, fish them out and dip them into sauces. The time spent cooking gives people time to socialize.Haidilao’s name originates from a Sichuanese mah-jongg term that connotes winning. While the chain offers a wide variety of broths, it is known mainly for its Sichuan-style spicy hot pot.

在中國，火鍋最初是為了冬天御寒?，F(xiàn)在則是全年都可以享用的美食。中國食客喜歡烹飪過程的參與性：人們圍繞著一鍋沸騰的湯，將肉放進去，再把它們撈出來，浸入小料。在烹飪過程中，人們還可以社交。海底撈的名字來源于一個有獲勝含義的四川麻將術語。雖然連鎖店提供各種各樣的鍋底，但還是主要以四川風味的麻辣鍋著稱。

Zhang Yong, a former tractor-factory worker, founded Haidilao originally with just four tables in his hometown, Jianyang, a city in Sichuan Province in China’s southwest.

張勇曾經(jīng)是一個拖拉機廠工人，他在自己的家鄉(xiāng)中國西南省份四川的簡陽創(chuàng)立了海底撈，店里最初只有四張桌子。

“I didn’t know how to make soup or cook any ingredients,” Mr. Zhang told Huang Tieying, a Peking University professor who wrote a 2011 book called “You Can’t Copy Haidilao.”

“我不會熬湯，不會炒料，”張勇告訴北京大學教授黃鐵鷹，后者在2011年寫了一本書《海底撈你學不會》。

“In order to satisfy people, I gave away more than I sold,” he said. “As a result, customers were still willing to come back, even though my food wasn’t that good.”

“為了讓人家滿意，送的比賣的還多，”他說。“結果，客人雖然說我的東西不好吃，卻又愿意來。”

Even a string of food safety scandals has not dented confidence in the brand.

即使是一連串的食品安全丑聞，也沒有削弱人們對該品牌的信心。

Last year, a viral video taken in two Beijing outlets by an undercover Chinese journalist showed rat-infested kitchens, dishwashers covered with grease and staff members cleaning sewers with a soup ladle. In June, the Chinese news media reported that a customer in one of the previous offending outlets found a fly in the dipping sesame sauce.

去年，一名中國臥底記者在北京的兩家海底撈分店拍攝了一段熱播視頻，顯示廚房老鼠橫行，洗碗機覆蓋著油脂，工作人員用湯勺清洗下水道。今年6月，中國新聞媒體報道，在之前一個違規(guī)分店用餐的顧客在芝麻醬中發(fā)現(xiàn)了一只蒼蠅。

In both instances, Haidilao apologized and promised to overhaul food safety in all its restaurants.

在這兩起案例中，海底撈都表示道歉，并承諾在其所有分店中徹底整頓食品安全。

Now, customers can watch a live-stream video of the kitchen from a flat-screen television hung on the wall or through tablets on their tables. They are also welcome to personally observe the food being prepared.“The food is very clean; other hot pot restaurants have food that isn’t that fresh,” said Liu Yali, a teacher who eats at the chain every two to three days. “Whenever my friends want to gather, we always choose Haidilao.”

現(xiàn)在，客戶可以通過掛在墻上的平板電視或桌上的平板電腦觀看廚房的實時視頻。餐廳也歡迎他們親自觀看食物的準備過程。“原材料特別干凈，別的火鍋店菜都黏兮兮，”每隔兩三天都要在這家連鎖店就餐的教師劉雅麗說。“我們有朋友聚會都會選擇在海底撈。”

Hot pot, including at Haidilao, has made inroads near Chinese communities in the United States and elsewhere. The question for Haidilao is whether hot pot — and the chain’s over-the-top customer service — will draw a broader group of foreigners the same way.

包括海底撈在內(nèi)的火鍋已經(jīng)向美國和其他地方的華人社區(qū)附近進軍。海底撈面臨的問題在于，火鍋——以及這家連鎖店的夸張服務——是否能夠同樣吸引更廣泛的外國人。

“If they want to be popular overseas, they’ll have to adjust their services and menu,” said Darcy Zhang, a Shanghai-based food blogger who is a fan of Haidilao. “In other countries, some of their services might feel too exaggerated.”

“如果在外國受歡迎，他們的現(xiàn)有服務和菜單要做調整，”上海的美食博主達西·張(Darcy Zhang，音)說，她是海底撈的支持者。“對于外國來說，他們有一些服務，會有一點點，太夸張了。”

“For example, a customer will go and wash their hands and the staff will be waiting outside with tissue paper and a huge smile,” she added. “Perhaps foreigners might find that quite creepy.”

“一個客人去洗手，人家給你遞張紙，還有滿臉笑容，”她補充說。“外國人可能會覺得creepy(詭異)。”