This is not Iceland. It's Corfu, Greece, and this is no McDonalds, but a small, locally owned kiosk selling gum, candy cigarettes and magazines, but the owner decided he could benefit by "borrowing" the famed name and even the arches logo of the multinational company.
This is not exactly the freshest news, but still interesting, from a pop-culture point of view, so if you missed it a couple of months ago, McDonalds has left Iceland, part of the fall-out of the global financial crisis.
Compiled and posted by Bob Berwyn
More than a few people were lovin’ it in Iceland on Halloween, as thousands lined up to enjoy one last Big Mac before McDonald’s closed its three franchises on the Atlantic island on Oct. 31.
Reuters reported that the fast-food joints had been packed ever since the company previously announced it would shut down its restaurants. The owner of the three franchises told the news agency that sales “went turbo.”
Reportedly, the outlets were selling up to 10,000 burgers per day the last few weeks they were open.
McDonald’s pulled out of the country partly because of Iceland’s economic collapse. The weakness of the country’s currency was one contributing factor, as was the high cost of importing food, the company said when it announced its withdrawal.
Iceland now joins a select list of countries with no Golden Arches, including Jamaica, Albania, Madagascar and the Maldives. The entire list reads like a traveler’s dream of exotic and remote places.
According to the company’s corporate web site, you can get Quarter Pounders in 119 countries, but a Wikipedia list shows 97 countries. The difference may be due to the fact that McDonald’s counts some countries that don’t rank as independent political entities by most standards.
It’s not easy to verify the accuracy of the lists. But I did, while doing the research, develop an appetite for a Big Mac, as well a hankering to visit the rest of the countries on the list. Four down (The Holy See, Jamaica, Belize, Albania) and about 95 to go!
The Reuters web site has the full story and even a short video.
Filed under: Iceland, Travel, food | Tagged: food, Iceland, McDonalds, pop culture
