McDonald's has RUINED our town – fast food giant's u-turn brought about our biggest fears and there's nothing we can do
Some local businesses fear they may go out of business
MACCIES PLEA McDonald's has RUINED our town – fast food giant's u-turn brought about our biggest fears and there's nothing we can do
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RESIDENTS have slammed McDonald's for ruining their quaint market town after the fast food giant enacted a major u-turn to its services.
Locals in Louth, Lincolnshire, which was once dubbed the Pie Capital of the World, have feared their area will be swamped by junk food after Maccies began home deliveries.
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Residents in the market town of Louth, Lincolnshire, are divided over McDonald's, after it recently began home deliveries
Credit: John Aron
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Critics argue the fast food giant is killing local businesses
Credit: John Aron
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Maria Robinson and Stephanie Brown, the former and current owners of The Toadstool Cafe, have said business dropped dramatically after McDonald's began delivering to people's homes
Credit: John Aron
Business owners are also terrified they may have to close down, amid stiff competition from the American fast food giant.
McDonald's opened its only outlet in Louth in November 2022, placing it on an industrial estate on the outskirts of the town.
While initially just open to sit-in and drive-thru customers, the fast food company eventually u-turned on this decision, opening the floodgates to deliveries.
Now, locals have been left divided, with some launching a petition calling for McDonald's to ban home deliveries in small towns like Louth, where family run businesses depend on visitor footfall.
The calls are led by Stephanie Brown, 56, after she was forced to sack two members of staff after a 75 per cent drop in takings at her award winning Toadstool takeaway.
She fears the business, which her family has been building up for seven years, may even be forced to close unless McDonald's listens to the traders' pleas.
Local takeaways had been fine until two months ago, when their worst fears - that McDonald's would start delivering - became reality.
It began when these business owners noticed a massive drop in trade.
The Toadstool takeaway, which was originally a cafe which won awards for its pies, finds itself in direct competition with the fast food multinational.
Forced to become a takeaway during lockdowns in the Covid-19 pandemic, and eventually staying as one, The Toadstool sells pizzas, burgers and milkshakes, wraps deserts and sides and hotdogs.
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Former owner Maria Robinson, 56, explained: 'They [McDonald's] started doing deliveries six or seven weeks ago - we knew we had a massive dip in takings but did not know why.
'Then my granddaughter had a delivery from McDonald's and it clicked.
'It is galling - they do not need to deliver, they have plenty of customers already.'
While McDonald's is only currently open to deliveries in the evenings, it is still directly competing with other local takeaways which offer their services between 5pm and 10pm.
Maria, however, worries the chain will begin to deliver for breakfast and the rest of the day too, "like they do everywhere else".
Stephanie added: 'We have lost 75 per cent of the business in two weeks. It just suddenly went like sabotage.'
She fears at least 15 other similar businesses in Louth will be affected.
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Louth is home to just over 17,000 people
Credit: John Aron
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Naomi and Felix Neaga, who run the Augustino Artisan restaurant in the town centre, say they cannot compete with McDonald's on deliveries
Credit: John Aron
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Dave and Jill Carlile don't believe McDonald's will be able to out-compete local outlets for breakfast goods, should the chain expand its delivery times
Credit: John Aron
She added: 'One night we only got five orders and we have not had anything like that since we started.'
Stephanie has emailed McDonald's about the petition but they have not heard anything back.
She added: 'The takeaways are all saying they are struggling. They pay £3 for delivery which is crackers.'
It is believed Louth to Mouth, another local business, has seen a 40 per cent drop in orders - Louth to Mouth and Just Eat are the main delivery platforms in the town.
Stephanie said: 'If it carries on we might have to close and so will other businesses as well, especially those in town paying the higher rents, of more than £1,000 a month in the town centre.'
She has contacted the council and will raise her concerns during a town meeting on June 3.
However, Stephanie feels helpless against the size of McDonald's, adding: 'It is not as if I can call for a boycott by myself.'
'The business is my livelihood. My workers and staff also depend on it.
"They had four staff. It is now down to two because we cannot afford to pay them.
"They are angry because it is their money."
Launching her online petition, Stephanie wrote: 'Fast food giants like McDonald's have enormous resources and ubiquitous brand recognition, making it difficult for small independent businesses to compete.
'When multinational corporations expand their convenience offerings, it often means a gradual erasure of local flavours and the closure of family businesses that bring uniqueness to our town.'
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Celia Foster does not believe deliveries from McDonald's will harm local businesses
Credit: John Aron
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Marcus Young echoed the view that local takeaways have their own customer base who are unlikely to float to a fast food chain like McDonald's
Credit: John Aron
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Alan Bloomfield, who runs a burger shop in the town centre, praised McDonald's for 'bringing a lot of jobs' to Louth
Credit: John Aron
Kieron Boswell from Louth to Mouth added: "Several outlets on Louth to Mouth have mentioned a noticeable effect since McDonald's began offering delivery services.
"While it's difficult to provide a precise figure of decline due to general fluctuations, there was definitely a decrease in the volume of orders, at least in the month McDonald's started delivering, compared to the previous month.
"I'm keen to just keep pushing and promoting all our local spots and confident it will bounce back."
Naomi and Felix Neaga who run the Augustino Artisan restaurant in the town centre say they cannot compete with McDonald's on deliveries.
Naomi said: 'We are a very very small town. It is not like Grimsby. It is very small with a high amount of food places.
'We are trying to get our young people to eat quality food. But are up against McDonald's and their offers and it is not good food.
'You cannot compete with McDonald's on delivery. The have pots of money. They will do a faster service with better packaging.
'It is going stop people from coming into the town when they are on holiday if they can get McDonald's delivering to their camp site.
'We have had to change our whole business model and focus on inside.
'It was costing us a fortune to get our food delivered but everyone wants deliveries since Covid.
'It is the most talked about thing in our small food town - McDonald's and KFC doing deliveries.'
Felix added: 'We stopped delivering because we had a lot of problems with delivery drivers and customers saying the food was late and cold.
'So I am sure they will be saying the same thing about McDonald's. I know someone who ordered it and it was 40 minutes late and cold.'
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McDonald's staff at the opening of the Louth store in November 2022
Credit: John Aron
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James Thompson - owner of the fast food franchise in Louth
Credit: John Aron
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Some locals fear McDonald's will expand its delivery service to the entirety of the day
Credit: John Aron
Alan Bloomfield, who runs Chuck Burger in the town centre, says he does not mind McDonald's being in the town.
He said: 'We stopped deliveries last weekend. We were paying money out to Just Eat and Mouth to Louth that we were not getting back.
'Personally, I don't mind. If I was at home and wanted a McDonald's I would be happy to give them a call.
'McDonald's did bring a lot of jobs to the town. I do like McDonald's myself as a classic little treat.
'But I do understand that local businesses like us need the money.'
Marcus Young, of Larders coffee shop, added: 'I don't see McDonald's or other takeaways as heated competition.
'Our customer base is very different to McDonald's, so I am not too bothered about McDonald's doing deliveries.
'I would be more concerned if it was Starbucks. Hopefully, people will appreciate their own local businesses and it won't matter.
'Local businesses have their own sets of customers so there is very little rivalry.'
MCDONALD'S 'UNABLE' TO COMPETE WITH LOCAL QUALITY
Many cafe and takeaway customers in town believe McDonald's will not be able to compete with smaller businesses, either on quality or price.
They included Dave and Jill Carlile, who are loyal customers at Archies cafe in Louth, travelling in from Grimsby to grab a cooked breakfast.
Dave, 67, said: 'I cannot see people ordering from McDonald's when they can come here for a cracking breakfast.
'McDonald's is not cheap any more. In fact, I would say a tenner for breakfast here is similar to McDonald's and fills you up more.
'By the time I get a McDonald's delivered it is probably about eight quid for a burger.
'But it always effects someone. It is like shopping on line. If people are ordering in from McDonald's they are not spending in town.
'Thankfully, most people who use this place will not go to McDonald's anyway.'
Another local, Celia Foster, spoke as she tucked into her drive-in meal at McDonald's.
She said: 'McDonald's are doing deliveries all over the place.
'Now they have started here. People do not like it but it is not a big deal.
'There was uproar when they first planned to open McDonald's here, as they was when KFC opened.
'They were queuing around the block when KFC opened but if you go there now it is dead.
'Deliveries are massive in places like Cleethorpes and Grimsby. So I don't think home deliveries are going to harm anyone, including takeaways.'
McDonald's was approached for comment by The Sun.
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