Mcdonanld's - A surprising French love affair

The first McDonald's hamburger outlet in France opened 30 years ago, and the French are now the world’s biggest consumers of the brand.

There are 60 million people in France, and over 1 million of them eat a McDonald's meal every day. That may surprise many of those who consider France to be the summum of ‘L’art de Vivre’ in terms of culinary issues, but it is true nevertheless.

So how are McDonald's doing in France? Well, they're doing very well, thank you. In fact they are enjoying almost insolently facile growth, despite all the polemics and criticisms. The American cultural imperialists, pockets full of dollars and calories, have managed to successfully change French eating habits to the point where McDonald's is no longer even considered as being fast food.

Eating a MacDo in France at lunchtime now means waiting in line for up to 30 minutes in bigger towns and cities, and France is now the company’s most profitable per capita market in the world.

Things were altogether different 10 years ago though, when McDonald's were accused of being the summum of “mal-bouffe” – “bad food/eating habits” in France. At that time several McDonald's restaurants were burnt down or otherwise attacked by various Anti-American or French-Traditionalist organisations, and in Brittany a waitress was killed by a bomb placed in a McDonald's outlet.

The company, despite its obvious revulsion towards the attacks, took the warnings to its business prospects seriously and began to change many of its operating, marketing and product configurations.

They began to emphasize their policy of using what they claim to be healthy and natural products bought from local producers where possible in order to reduce the environmental footprint. Used oils were recycled and service at table has been introduced in some outlets. This policy has cost McDonald's 4 percent of its turnover over the last few years.

Menus were also changed, with more salads being introduced as well as other meats such as chicken,veal and others. French style breakfasts were also a part of this strategy. At the same time, the nutritional content of each hamburger, salad and dessert has been made available to the clientèle.

That strategy has worked, if the figures are to be believed.

The French spend more time in a McDonald's restaurant than Americans, and they are more apt to eat withinin the restaurant itself. This is a natural continuation of French culture, which insists that mealtimes are important moments and should not be rushed if possible. This means that many French McDonald's are more comfortable, and deliberately designed to be so, than those in many other countries.

The figures are eloquent. McDonald's had 400 outlets in France in 1998. There are now 1,200, and over half of the new restaurants are being created in smaller towns.

This has meant new jobs. Although the French in general do not consider McDonald's to be a good employer, the company has created 6 times as many new jobs as the much-vaunted-for-the-future biotechnology sector, and this depite the fact that biotechnology has been a state-subsidised priority in France for the last 15 years.

McDonald's also announced recently plans to create 12,000 jobs in Europe over the next year in 240 new restaurants. Given that that is the company’s biggest growth prediction in 5 years, that is generally considered to be a very high figure given the general economic morosity.

Bon Appetit....?