How France became McDonaldised

Yesterday I mentioned the McDonald’s “Just passing by” ad which is currently running on British TV, and how you couldn’t imagine a French version of it.

This big global brand has had its problems in “McDonaldising” France, and some of the TV commercials by McDonalds France are still a bit stone age compared with that latest UK one.

That’s not to say McDonalds isn’t big in France. It’s huge. The French love McDonalds.

To outsiders this may seem a strange contradiction. Are we talking about La Belle France, the country that gave us haute cuisine, charming bistros and brasseries, fantastic wine and cheese, wonderful markets, the aroma of freshly baked bread slowly wafting down the street from the village boulangerie etc etc etc? Le fast food, surely, is the very opposite of all this?

Yet France is a country bursting with contradictions. It is  well able to absorb foreign things such as Big Macs and give them its own Gallic twist.

McDonalds: France is full of contradictions

McDonalds opened its first French outlet in Strasbourg 30 years ago – around the time its first restaurant opened in Dublin’s Grafton Street too – and the multinational now has 1,140 outlets across France.

It’s the country’s largest private-sector employer, and a growing section of the population has fallen under the spell of Le Big Mac.

One million French people buy from McDonalds every day, and the global headquarters has sat up and taken notice of the amazing growth figures.

McDonalds has reached saturation point in the US. It has been feeling the pinch elsewhere, and on Saturday it served its last “(un)happy meals” at its three restaurants in Iceland. But McDonalds France keeps on growing.

It’s the second most profitable area in the world after the one in the US, and French customers are the world’s biggest spenders: an average visit comes to about $15 (€10), compared with $4 (€3) in the US.

In the Languedoc there are McDonalds  everywhere – from Carcassonne to Narbonne, Agde, Serignan, Béziers and Pezenas. Last month McDonalds France also unveiled plans to open a restaurant in the commercial mall under the Louvre in Paris. Le Big Mac, at the heart of France’s most celebrated cultural symbol? Shame! Scandal! Yet in France this was hardly a big deal.

José Bové

Sure, there have been some anti-globalisation protests, such as the one by  José Bové. This farmer and activist hit the international headlines in 1999 after he dismantled a McDonalds in Millau (in the Midi-Pyrénées). The protest raised awareness about the multinational’s use of hormone-treated beef, and Bové later ran for President.

After Bové’s demo, the local French management undertook a damage limitation exercise and began localising the brand.

In 2001 they launched a cheeky promotional campaign, replacing Ronald McDonald with Astérix, the beloved cartoon character whose thick handlebar moustache just happens to be similar to Bové’s. In fact, Astérix was Bové’s nickname.

Making French fries more French

While McDonalds may be a huge global brand, the local French management looked at other ways to tailor the brand to French tastes.

“It has been tough for us to become integrated in the French market,” admits Eric Gravier, vice-president, corporate affairs, of McDonald’s France. “The focus we had at the beginning was to open more stores and to get suppliers, and we were attacked because we had this image of globalisation.”

To dispel this, says Gravier, French McDonald’s restaurants have dropped the “flashy yellow and red and lights” and become “a cosy place with nice, warm colours with free wireless, where you might like to stay for an hour.”
- “Why did France fall in love with McDonald’s?”, the Guardian, 24 July 2008

For a start, take the name. In France it’s not really McDonalds. It’s McDo (pronounced mac-DOUGH). Shorter, more slangy, hip, local.

Then there’s the latest tagline, “Venez comme vous êtes”, sounding more like a Nirvana song or a Benetton slogan than the prevous more global “C’est tout ce que j’aime” (I’m loving it).

Next, look at the interiors. Again, McDonalds France tore up the head office rulebook. It  spent lavishly to refit restaurants with chic and funky interiors – and extras such as music videos that entice customers to linger – LINGER! – over their meals. BusinessWeek drooled over its success.

McDo menus

Finally check out the local McDo menus. Despite American tourists assuring you that the McDonalds in France is “just the same as back home”, there are plenty of subtle differences. They include Le P’tit Moutarde and Le Royal Deluxe, which move more towards French tastes in mustard.

The P’tit Dej’ (breakfast – petit dejeuner) includes crossiant type meals alongside the waffles and pancakes and the Bacon et Egg McMuffin

You can even get a croque monsieur (Croque McDo), or a beer or espresso coffee, and Evian or Perrier water. The Jambon Beurre (slices of ham on a crusty buttered baguette) apparently outsells its burgers ten to one.

They’ve also started opening McCafés – standalone espresso bars offering lattes, macchiatos and so on.

McDo may be synonymous with junk food (la malbouffe) but it has managed to co-exist with more traditional French cuisine and local tastes. Some things are always universal, though, like the drive-in rip-off.

Here’s our favourite video prankster Rémi Gaillard from Montpellier (which has at least seven McDonalds), showing how to get a free meal at a McDo in these tough economic times…

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