Pi-Consulting

# France is supposed to be the world capital of serious gastronomy, and it’s assumed by many to have an automatic antipathy for American-style fast food. Indeed, a few years back a French farmer with a penchant for protests against globalization bulldozed a McDonalds restaurant before it was half-built. Denis Hennequin, the ranking McDonalds executive in France at the time, took this as a wake-up call. He started telling his customers about the company’s contribution to employment (40,000 recruits a year), and how all their meat, buns and other ingredients are French-produced. (Only the cheese was imported — even the French admit the Dutch make better cheddar). McDonalds France has forged ahead in popularity and profitability ever since. Of Europe’s 6,276 European restaurants, over 1,000 are in France, and serve a million customers a year. Reasons for this surprising success? One is that McDonalds is deliberately child-friendly, while most French parents find that other restaurants are anything but. M. Hennequin’s explanation? “A latent French admiration of American films, music, entertainment and — yes — food. (Source: New York Times)

OH yes– have a Peaceful Thanksgiving