Run on Iceland McDonald's as chain flips last burgers

[Doctor Cynic]

Source: APF

REYKJAVIK — Noisy crowds, long queues, and traffic jams plunged McDonald's restaurants in Iceland into a state of siege Saturday, as the chain served its final burgers on the island.

Icelanders flooded the three branches of the US fast-food restaurant in Reykjavik several hours before the outlets shut for the last time, forced to close after the island's economic collapse caused running costs to soar.

Extra staff were deployed to reinforce the outlets, whose disappearance after 16 years means Iceland will be one of the few Western countries without a presence of the ubiquitous eatery.

Customers in one branch faced a 20-minute wait to be served and snaking lines of cars caused traffic jams at the drive-in.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iiMi...

[Xipe Totec]

1. It will be interesting to run a study on the health effects n/t

[barbtries]

21. i think that's an excellent idea

wonder if someone's doing it.

[Kolesar]

23. He plans to run the restaurants under another name in order to be able to buy cheaper Icelandic prod

McDonald's requires all resources for its restaurants, including packaging, meat, vegetables and cheese, to be imported as the Icelandic market is too small to produce the required products.

Ogmundsson said the restaurants imported their goods from Germany, but costs had doubled because the country's falling krona currency had made imports prohibitively expensive.

He plans to run the restaurants under another name in order to be able to buy cheaper Icelandic products.

[indimuse]

24. have you ever seen SUPER SIZE ME?

pretty interesting...and revealing!

[WriteDown]

38. You mean the movie that made him a millionaire?

And then his wife wrote a book detailing how to lose the weight? Sheesh, they got it coming and going .

[tucsonlib]

2. Finally!

Proof that an economic collapse can have some positive consequences.

[unkachuck]

3. hey Doctor Cynic....

....would you say the health of the average Icelander should now improve?....or it be, to quote Groucho, "...outside of the improvement, you'd never know the difference."?

[Doctor Cynic]

7. I'm sure there are plenty of other places selling so-called food, so I'm not hopeful.

Let's face it. The only reason anyone outside of Iceland cares is because everyone knows about their economic catastrophe, and everyone knows about the old Golden Arches.

[TommyPaine]

9. Considering that there were only three McDonald's in the entire country, probably not

Then again, there are only ~300,000 people in the entire nation, so life expectancies may notably increase after all.

[imdjh]

4. How much is a pack of cigarettes in Iceland? A fifth of vodka?

[harmonicon]

25. I don't know exact numbers, but those things are insanely expensive there.

Apparently alcohol is only for special occasions. I have an Icelandic colleague - I'll ask him.

[harry_pothead]

5. Waiting in a 20 minute line for the worst food in the world.

[countmyvote4real]

11. Great handle. Only just noticed. lol n/t

[harry_pothead]

19. I'm high right now.

[imdjh]

26. .

[krispos42]

6. Yanno, I wouldn't do that if they announced every single one in America...

...was shutting down forever in exactly 24 hours.


I'd be like "Well, I hope Wendy's starts putting in Play Places ASAP".

[ronnie624]

12. Love the quote in your sig line.

The comic strip is bangin' too.

[krispos42]

13. Thanks

It was an LTTE in the Baltimore Sun a couple of weeks ago. Seems to sum it up very well...

[Endangered Specie]

8. heh, sounds like a Bojangles on a weekend morning.

[WriteDown]

15. You in NC?

I miss Bojangles.

[barbtries]

20. i'm in NC

i've put on about 20 lbs in the 2 years i've been here - partly due to bojangles. mmm

[Endangered Specie]

37. mhmmm... wonder why they haven't expanded further

[Frank Booth]

10. This sucks for Icelanders.

McDonald's fries, when freshly out of the fryer, are just about the best anywhere (though they were even better when they were cooked in beef tallow).

Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets are delicious as well.

[paulsby]

16. I agree. i get tired of the mcdonald's bashing

the fries are excellent. iirc, julia childs was a fan of mcd's fries.

mcd's has survived and thrived for decades, because it provides what people want, at good prices, with fast service, and good quality control.

i'm a competitive strength athlete. but i still enjoy an occasional mcd's meal.

mcd's is a solid part of americana. (despite the fact that it does very well in many nations, such as france)

[eridani]

18. Not that they are actually good, just that they have a flat out guarantee that anywhere

--in the world, it will never, ever be outright bad. That kind of reliability and consistency is the secret of their success. The fries actually are good, though. IMO.

[Kolesar]

22. Last time I got fries, they were cold

There is nothing on their menu that I like.

I usually try to find a grocery store with a deli counter if I am traveling and want a quick lunch.

[Politicub]

29. They will gladly swap out your cold fries for hot ones, if you ask

[paulsby]

33. when i got cold fries last time

i was in the drive thru. i went inside and not only did i get hot fresh fries, but i got a free parfait.

[Politicub]

35. Nice. Score! :) n/t

[Ichingcarpenter]

27. Read this........Iceland has good beef, hothouses and bakeries but Micky D

a(This has been reported here before. What's new is the clear rationale behind the decision: McDonalds prohibited local produce)

I was listening to Gardar Ögmundsson, the owner of the McDonalds franchise in Iceland (BBC World Service). I felt my anger rising as he went on about importing his ingredients, the collapse of the Icelandic Kroner ( 85 to 185 Kroner to the Euro) and "unacceptable" costs - he would have to jack up the price of burgers by 30%

OK, I thought, so there's less profit in your oh so socially nutritious enterprise, throw all those people out of work.

I was wrong. Mr Ögmundsson went on to explain that McDonalds prevented him from buying locally: Bread, cheese, even lettuce. Only McDonalds certified producers would do and these were in Europe. So, he is ditching the franchise and reinventing his business. "Metro" restaurants will open, replacing the McDonalds, using local ingredients. Although the fare will be similar, Ögmundsson has reached an agreement with McD that his menus do not infringe their intellectual property.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

BTW I love their fries too

[stlsaxman]

36. Now THAT is pretty damned cool and brave. "Metro", huh?

I'm glad they worked things out so Ohmygodsson could try his own hand at it.

[rpannier]

17. And there are times when they are the best way to get the kids and me fed when time is short

Soccer, Basketball and Softball tournaments, especially if they're 40 miles from my house and we got 2 hours between games.

Yes, we could buy the hot dogs and hamburgers at the field and often we do.
But, in December and January I wanna sit down and be warm

[monktonman]

14. Yeah sure

they're about as "closed" as the H & R block down the street from my house.

[Dreamer Tatum]

28. Funny how people here were cheering the shutdown

but people there were flocking to the place before it closed for good.

A favorite pastime of DU is grafting its values on another society that they regard as too precious to have values of its own.

[ronnie624]

30. When you say people "here",

are you referring to people posting on DU, or people in the United States in general? The people posting on DU are really just a small subset of those of the leftist political persuasion in the U.S., and are usually much better informed than the population in general. Even so, many of the posters here have said they like McDonald's food, especially their fries, so your 'point' doesn't make any sense at all.

I'm certain that if McDonald's was closing for good in the U.S., we would see similar long lines "here", and some DUers would probably be in them.

By the way, I like their fries too.

[Dreamer Tatum]

31. There were sneering posts about how much better off the Icelanders will be

As if they're too stupid to decide for themselves what they like and what they want, and as if McDonalds was cramming their food down Icelanders' throats at gunpoint.

But yes, some DUers proclaimed their love for McD. Myself, I prefer Carl's Jr.

[Arugula Latte]

32. Reminds me of the old Talking Heads' song "Nothing But Flowers"

Once there were parking lots
Now it's a peaceful oasis
you got it, you got it

This was a Pizza Hut
Now it's all covered with daisies
you got it, you got it

I miss the honky tonks,
Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens
you got it, you got it

And as things fell apart
Nobody paid much attention
you got it, you got it

I dream of cherry pies,
Candy bars, and chocolate chip cookies
you got it, you got it

We used to microwave
Now we just eat nuts and berries
you got it, you got it

This was a discount store,
Now it's turned into a cornfield
you got it, you got it

Don't leave me stranded here
I can't get used to this lifestyle

[brentspeak]

34. Iceland is so desperate...

("How desperate is it?")

Well, it's so desperate, that, even though their little nation was hurtled-off-the-cliff by adopting every neoliberal/open-markets scam under the sun, they have no choice but to go begging for loans from that great epitome of neoliberal loan-sharking, the IMF.