First they took French cities — now McDonald's is the new village café
Since this spring, it can also boast its own branch of McDonald's.
In the country that invented haute cuisine, it is part of a drive by the American fast-food giant, which already has 1,560 French branches, to expand beyond its traditional sites in cities and out-of-town commercial centres. Fifty new outlets are due to open this year and, for the first time, many are expected to be in small rural communities.
'McDonald's has become a bit like the village café,' says Jérôme Fourquet, director of the opinion and business strategy department of Ifop, a leading French pollster.
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