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Friday, November 6, 2009

McDonald's across the world


Following the financial crisis in Iceland, McDonald's has decided to close its business and pull out of Iceland, as the country's financial crisis has made it too expensive to operate its franchise.

The first McDonald's in Iceland opened in 1993, the BBC reports, now 16 years on, the company has three outlets which it plans to close.

Besides the economy, McDonald's blamed the "unique operational complexity" of doing business in an isolated nation with a population of just 300,000.

Difficult decision

McDonald's worldwide

The franchises are run by a firm called Lyst, with owner Jon Gardar Ogmundsson saying the decision was "not taken lightly."

The restaurants imported the goods from Germany, but that costs had almost doubled, with the falling krona making imports prohibitively expensive.

Ogmundsson said the restaurants had "never been this busy before... but at the same time profits have never been lower."

"It just makes no sense. For a kilo of onion, imported from Germany, I'm paying the equivalent of a bottle of good whisky," he added.

His plan now is to run the restaurants under another name so that he is able to buy cheaper Icelandic products.

Iceland's banks collapsed at the height of the global credit crisis - wrecking the country's economy and forcing it to rely on an GBP£6.1 billion international aid package.

Around the world

After the news of the closure in Iceland, Business Management Europe has looked an McDonald's dominance around the world, finding that you'd find a franchise in most countries, with the most being in the US.

And what about price? You'd find yourself paying a huge US$7.18 for a burger in Norway, compared to only US$3.57 in the US.

And where can would you find the world's busiest McDonald's? That would be the one located on the famous Pushkin Square in Moscow, where you would find yourself greeted with seats for 700 customers.

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