愛思英語編者按：肯德基很樂觀的認為2013年夏天在中國的銷售下降是可以回升的。現在看來事情并不如預期。九月，肯德基在中國的同店銷售再一次的下跌，到目前為止下跌了13%，延長了整年的負增長趨勢。

　　KFC was optimistic this summer that the decline in its China sales would soon reverse. It now appears things aren’t going as well as expected. KFC’s same store sales in China fell again in September, this time by 13 percent, prolonging the negative trend that’s plagued the chicken chain all year.

　　“We had very high expectations for the month of September,” said Yum! Brands Chief Financial Officer Patrick Grismer during Wednesday’s earnings call. “The fact is that we expected a much better result, and in hindsight, we were wrong.”

　　Chinese consumers remain worried about food safety, and competing chains are gaining ground. KFC’s China sales plummeted after CCTV reported in December that one of its suppliers was selling chicken that had been given unapproved antibiotics and hormones. Then bird flu broke out in March. By mid-year, KFC’s declines were slowing and Chief Executive Officer David Novak expressed confidence that sales would turn positive in the fourth quarter. “The trend is in the right direction,” a spokesman toldBloomberg Businessweekin July. But losses have remained steady.

　　KFC also faces heightened competition from fast food chains such as Dicos and Hua Lai Shi, but Novak said in a statement: “KFC is unquestionably the category leader in China and we remain confident sales will fully recover from the adverse publicity surrounding the December poultry supply incident.”

　　Globally, Yum’s profit was down 68 percent in the third quarter. Despite a difficult year, the company continues to open additional restaurants in China, where it generates more than half its revenues. “China is undeniably the No. 1 retail opportunity in the world,” Novak said during Wednesday’s earnings call. There are 4,463 KFC restaurants in China, up 10 percent from a year ago.(ChinaDaily)

　　“我們曾對這個九月份抱有很大的期望，”百勝(Yum! Brand)首席財務官帕德里克·格里斯墨(Patrick Grismer)在10月9日周三的財報電話會議上說道。“事實上我們是期待有更好的結果，然而我們錯了。”

　　中國的消費者仍然擔心食物的安全問題，肯德基的競爭對手正在蠶食市場份額。CCTV在2012年12月報道肯德基的一家供應商的雞注入了未經批準的抗生素和激素之后，它在中國銷量暴跌。之后是3月份的時候爆發了禽流感。到年中的時候，肯德基的下降趨勢有所減弱，之后首席執行官大衛·諾瓦克(David Novak)表示了有信心在最后一個季度銷售量可以回升。“這個趨勢正處于一個正確的方向”，一位發言人在七月告訴《彭博商業周刊》(Bloomberg Business Week)。不過，虧損仍然持續。

　　肯德基也面臨著越來越大的來自快餐連鎖像德克士(Dicos)和華萊士的競爭，但是在一份聲明中，諾瓦克說：“肯德基毫無疑問在中國是領頭的，我們仍然有信心從去年12月份的負責家禽供應事件中恢復銷售量。”

　　在全球范圍內，百盛餐飲的利潤在第三季度下降了68%。盡管是艱難的一年，但是該公司仍繼續在中國開新店，而這些店貢獻了一半多的營業額。“中國毫無疑問是世界上零售商機最大的國家，”諾瓦克在9日的財報電話會議上說。中國目前有4463家的肯德基店，較去年同期增長了10%。