Can you reconcile foodie France being McDonald's #2 customer country after the US?

they sell alcohol?

http://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-in-france-is-better-than-in-america-2015-4

I think McDonalds has captured just about every countries taste buds, had I had to guess I might have said Briton instead of France for the #2 spot. The asian McDonalds serve their fries with Wasabi mayo instead of ketchup, it is delicious! I have tried to make my own version of the green wasabi mayo but it is a fail.

After a quick read it appears that the French Micky D’s reviews are first rate for restaurant style and the menu items have much classier names, instead of a quarter pounder it is a Royale with cheese and they also serve pastries, cappuccino and macaroons. Yum!

McDonalds caters their menu to each country’s particular tastes.

Tourists. When I was in Europe about 75% of what I ate was McDonalds and Burger King. I’m incredibly picky and at McDonalds I could order by number and I knew exactly what I would get.

And it tastes pretty good and is cheap. Europe has poor people too.

Our McDonald’s and burger king is expensive. It isn’t poor people food. I guess it is stupid tourists food.

Seemed cheap to me compared to other places. But that was probably a function of me not knowing the local tips.

There is a little breakfast place here where I can get filled for five bucks.

My daughter had been telling me for years exactly the same thing about the the difference between McDonald’s in France and the slop oozing through the arches in the states. When 2 of her friends came here for a visit, she took them to the local McDonalds for an exercise in stereotypical French ridicucle. The three of them hooted and chattered in raucous French about the pigs eating better back in France. The visitors were surprised though that the food was so inexpensive.

The France = Foodie is mostly a myth. Or rather, the wealthy classes in France are the foodies, and the lower classes eat McDonalds.

@cazzie Aye, McDick’s is expensive here too. Almost ten bucks for a BigMac combo. Fuck that, there are plenty of hamburger and pizza joints around here that costs less and tastes way better.

@cazzie You don’t live in France, though, right? I thought you lived in Norway, where everything is more expensive. So @johnpowell‘s experience might just be in central Europe.

I know in England we were overjoyed to find a McDonalds. That was because so much of the food sucked. This was many years ago.

I’ve never been to France, but I have been to Italy where the food was so yummy it’s mind boggling. I didn’t eat at McD’s while in Italy, but if I had needed a fast meal I certainly would have considered it. McDonald’s is fairly consistent around the world, especially within a country. It’s one of the great things about good chains, you know exactly what you are going to get. That formula works everywhere I guess.

@JeSuisRickSpringfield :: Yeah, I was only in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and a few of those countries that look like stomachs.

Speaking of McDonalds – I was in two different McD restaurants when I was in Israel – one was a Kosher McD – that is, meat, but no cheeseburgers – and the other was a ‘normal’ McDonalds will all the regular choices.

Neither were as ‘good’ (and I use that term reluctantly) as American McDs.

My first thought was that it is mostly tourists in there, also.

There are a few world-wide companies that excel in maintaining their image while catering to their clientele by country (and not tourists). McDonald’s is one of them. Proof is in this online tool/explanation about The Big Mac Index.

To answer the question, in addition to @JeSuisRickSpringfield‘s article posted, here is another one that goes into greater depth on why French McDonald’s are so popular.

When I was back in the States, we stopped at a few Burger Kings when we had the kids with us. The food was definitely better than our local BK here where I live in Norway, and, of course, cheaper.

When you travel, you have to ask the locals where to eat. When I was in France and in a hurry, I just went to a deli or grocery store that sold fresh salads. Best fast food, ever. The food in England is horrible, but you have to go to ‘ethnic’ places, like an Indian restaurant or Moroccan place. They are the only place for tasty food in England. Scotland is better with their food choices, I found, for some reason. Malta was a bit hit and miss, but, after asking for recommendations from local people, and making it a point to NOT eat at the hotel we were staying at, we found some amazing food. On Malta, the most difficult thing was finding a restaurant that had a bathroom that worked, oddly enough.

For me, trying the local food and wine/beer is a big part of travelling. Eating at a fast food chain just seems to leave out a good reason for spending the money to travel in the first place.

Like @cazzie, trying the local food is, for me, a big part of traveling whether it’s 50 miles or 1500. Locally I’ve eaten McDonald’s food probably 5 times in the last 10 years and maybe once that was in-house. It’s a revelation to me that there are over-seas McDonald’s outlets that use china and have the trappings of a real restaurant.

The question was taken from a NPR piece about the fight in France to keep McDonald’s from opening a franchise on a street famous for food. I was surprised that one of the local business owners said something to the effect of ‘At least they would be serving food, and not be another dress shop.”
McDonald’s?
Food??
Apparently it’s possible, if improbable in the States.

I’m guessing that France doesn’t serve liberty fries.

@talljasperman Do you say that because France gifted America the Statue of Liberty?

@JLeslie No. It was because France didn’t join the countries of the willing against Iraq years ago and the USA changed french fries to liberty fries in protest. Like Islam changing the name of a pastry danish to tears of the profit Mohamed because of the cartoons depicting Mohamed as a terrorist.

Oh.

French fries are called pommes frites in France, commonly. Just like here, in Norway. Oddly enough, the Belgians and French both claim they invented them. The renaming of them in the US was a source of great hilarity.

Fried earth apples, fo da vuggin’ winz0rz yo.

Why not? Lots of people love to eat at McD, especially kids.