When Beijing was blanketed by heavy smog, three motorcycles passed by a crossroads within 30 seconds. All of them were carrying a big box, stuffed with food and bearing the name of one of China's three largest food-ordering platforms.

当北京被笼罩在浓雾中，三辆摩托车在30秒内路过一个十字路口。他们都带着一个大盒子，里面装满了食物，上面标着中国三大食品订购平台的名字。

The motorcyclists were couriers from Ele.me, a six-year-old startup, Groupon-like Meituan.com and Baidu Waimai, a food-ordering service launched by search engine giant Baidu Inc.

摩托车手是“饿了么”公司的快递员，它是有着六年历史的新兴公司，类似于美团、百度外卖的团购，是由搜索引擎巨头百度公司推出的订餐服务。

They were winding¹ through busy traffic to deliver dinners that consumers had ordered online.

他们在繁忙的车流中穿梭，配送消费者在线订购的晚餐。

The days-long smog is stoking demand for a business that is booming in China. Thanks to the proliferation of smartphones in the world's second-largest economy, a growing number of consumers are turning to mobile apps for catering² services.

长时间的雾霾推动了正在中国蓬勃发展的外卖需求。作为全球第二大经济体的中国，由于智能手机的用户扩增，越来越多的消费者转向使用手机软件订餐。

In the second quarter, online-to-offline, or O2O, catering industry transactions hit 8.2 billion yuan ($1.3 billion), up by 89 percent from last quarter, according to Beijing-based Internet consultancy Analysys International.

据北京互联网咨询公司易观国际统计，在第二季度，线上到线下，或O2O，餐饮业交易达到82亿元（13亿美元），比上一季度增长89%。

Although online food ordering only accounts for a small proportion of the catering industry, research company iResearch Consulting Group says its market volume is expected to hit 40 billion yuan in 2017, as more consumers develop the habit of booking meals online.

研究公司艾瑞咨询集团说，虽然网上订餐只占餐饮行业一小部分比例，但就更多的消费者习惯于网上订餐而言，其市场规模有望在2017年突破400亿。

Kang Jia, co-founder and chief operating officer of ele.me, saying that the platform is expanding its food delivery services to five peak-time phases in one day.

“饿了么”的共同创始人和首席运营官康佳表示，该平台正在扩大一天5个高峰段的食品送货服务。

Unlike our peers which only focus on the regular three meals, we are adding desserts and snacks in the afternoon since most white-collar workers tend to have a tea break, Kang said. "Now around 19 percent of orders are for afternoon services."

“不像我们的同行，只专注于普通的三餐，我们在下午增加甜点和小吃，因为大多数白领往往都会喝茶休息，”康佳说。“现在大约19%的订单是午后服务。”

The company is also rolling out special snacks to meet people's growing appetite late at night. "This is the most promising³ niche⁴ because it covers a long time range which starts from 8 pm to maybe 2 am the next day," Kang added.

公司还推出了特殊的夜宵服务，以满足人们深夜增长的食欲。“这是最有前途的商机，因为它涵盖了很长的时间范围，从晚上8点，也许一直到第二天凌晨2点。”康佳补充说。