McDonald's Set To Open Branch In Louvre
The French arm of McDonald's may no longer be the target of local farmers and gastronomes who attacked it in decades past. But next month, the chain will ask the French if they'd like frites with their Mona Lisa, as it prepares to open a branch at what could be called Ground Zero of French culture: the Louvre. As one art historian said, the move represents "the pinnacle of exhausting consumerism, deficient gastronomy and very unpleasant odours in the context of a museum."
France is now the largest McDonald's market outside of the U.S., with over a thousand outlets throughout the country. But the chain's plans to open a restaurant in an underground food court near one of the museum's entrances has brought long-simmering concerns to the surface. As reported in the Daily Telegraph:
Didier Rykner, head of The Art Tribune website found the idea "shocking." "I'm not against eating in a museum but McDonald's is hardly the height of gastronomy," he said, adding that it was a worrying mixture of art and consumerism. "Today McDonald's, tomorrow low-cost clothes shops," he said.
McDonald's insists that the naysayers have it all wrong. According to the company, the location will include a "quality" McCafe that would be "in line with the museum's image," and the museum insists that the local franchisee has taken "the utmost care in ensuring the quality of the project, both in culinary and aesthetic terms."
We have no idea how they're going to pull that off, but if it involves Mona Lisa Happy Meals, we may just have to give Jose Bove a call and see if he's still got his bulldozer.
McDonald's restaurants to open at the Louvre [Telegraph]
(Photo: wbeem & Great Beyond)
Post a comment
Comments:
No, no, The Onion is a PARODY.
*clicks*.
Oh...
Sacrebleu!
Am I the only one who's a bit surprised by this?: "France is now the largest McDonald's market outside of the U.S."
IDK if it's just my relative inexperience in the real world (I'm 20) but I would have thought differently. :p
Wonder if they'll have double doors for the entry and a fan pulling the air to the outside of the building to avoid contamination of fry grease into the main Lourve structure?
Get some crepes from the street carts out front, best food I had in Paris - and just as fast and cheap as les voûtes d'or
Je l'aime!
@Chumas:
i was wondering the same thing. as soon as i read this, i thought "oh no! the mona lisa is gonna smell like grease."
they cant let this happen. if they will insist on having a Mickey D's in the area, put it off the museum grounds. Do it for the art!!!
What a fitting coexistance. Not McDonalds and the Louvre, but that the French adore the stuff. A perfect co-mingling of things the world could do without.
(I was called an ugly American when I was 6 while on vacation with my family. I'm still bitter.)
@CyGuy: Between crepes carts, the hot chocolate carts and the roasted chestnut carts, what's not to love? Paris has some of the best street food. I also loved the brat carts in Berlin.
@GMFish: France is also recently dealing with their own obesity epidemic.
The one thing that has changed the most in the equation is the addition of soda, junk food snacks and an influx of US style fast food restaurants. It was also noted that more people in France are using convenience foods and mixes from grocery stores rather than sitting down to meals.
It adds more proof that junk food and processed foods are major causes of obesity. Possibly more so than lack of exercise.
So can I take my Big Mac combo meal into the Virgin Mary's tomb?
@Chumas: That was my second thought on this. The damage airborne grease could do to some of the world's treasures.
Why don't they have some local restaurant open a cafe with counter service that serves locally produced fare. Paris has one of the best series of public food markets in the world.
"very unpleasant odours in the context of a museum"
As opposed to the downright pleasant smell of the Louvre right now?
I say put the McDonald's in the Contemporary Art wing and make performance art out of it. An interactive shrine to consumerism and globalization and unhealthy-yet-irresistible lifestyles.
I remember reading similar stories that McDonald's was opening stores in parts of Mexico that were considered national historic landmarks and such. I know that a business' ultimate goal is maximizing profit, (and maybe this is why I'm not a CEO?) but it seems like there are places where you just should not be serving Big Macs and Happy Meals. The Louvre just made that list.
I read this in the paper this morning. I let out a groan on the metro. What I liked most about the Louvre's food court was that I was able to get simple French food like croque monsieurs (ham and cheese sandwich) and salads. The majority of my college colleagues flocked to the burger places and the pizza places. Going to France, and eating McDonalds? Really? I can't imagine how building a McDonalds inside the Louvre is a good idea considering one of the best ways of experiencing Paris is to eat French food. I can't imagine the best way of encouraging visitors to embrace France is to build a McDonalds.
I guess I'm the only one who is neither surprised nor appaled by this. The largest market outside the US puts an outlet at a popular tourist destination, whoop-de-do. Obviously, the sales figures tell the tale: the French like it, despite the hand-wringing of a few elites. And, yes, you'll still be able to get proper food if (like me) that's what you want.
@pecan 3.14159265: He he... dirty confession coming up...
I actually went to a McDonalds AND a Papa Johns in India.
It is not as bad as it sounds though. The menus are almost completely different (they don't sell beef there), and most items on the menu are Indianized versions of what they have here. Mc Aloo Tikki, and Tandoori Pizza... whats not to love :)
The Louvre is begging for some new Banksy works to be hung there now.
@downwithmonstercable: Yeah, next thing you know there'll be a McDonalds opening just off of a Gettysburg Battlefield....I actually wouldn't be surprised if that didn't cross some businessperson's mind.
All I can say after reading the headline is:
"Nique sa mèèèèère!!! Un putain de McDo au Vrelou! P'tain, ils sont viré ouf??? Oh!"
@MostlyHarmless: I just can't do it. I don't even willingly go to McDonalds in the US, why would I willingly go when I'm in a foreign country? And even if they serve entirely different things, surely I can find a place that serves better and more authentic fast food, right?
I read that there's an actual reason for all the mcdonald's in france. It's because mcdonald's is consistent - and despite what you've heard, every french corner bistro is NOT necessarily world class. 1) the local food is EXPENSIVE, 2) due to a number of reasons involving regulations, the food they have is either unavailable and/or not fresh - and quality control can be EXTREMELY spotty. I've heard that it's not uncommon to go to a restaurant only to find that over half the menu is not available that evening. So I can understand how the french might want something cheap, fast, and consistent.
@treimel: Yeah, a lot of the caterwauling here against the American institution that is McDonalds is rather egocentrically American in and of itself. It's rather amusing.
@pecan 3.14159265: Oh most definitely. Though I'll have you know, McDonalds in India are about the same stature as Red Robins here. That might have changed recently as more and more pop up, but overall, they are considered quite a place for a first date.
Also there is a perverse pleasure in going to a McDonalds in your home country, where the most "authentic" food is at home :P
I've been to several McDonald's in Paris, only for coffee, but I can say that coffee at a Paris McD's is better than 99% of the coffee I've had anywhere in the states. If the food follows suit it's probably not as bad as what we expect here in the states.
Man, I was just there 2 weeks ago and they have a Starbucks. Not in the main building, but off to the side in the hallway to one of the entrances.
@rickhamilton620: Actually, I was thinking of the following US Historic Landmarks:
1) Inside the statue of liberty - Exhaust the vents from the fryers out of the torch creating a cool smoke effect, and at the same time, coating the inside of the statue with grease to act as an anti-corrosive agent.
2) The Liberty Bell - Use the bell as the exhaust hood.
3) The Golden Gate Bridge - Drive thru only McDonalds, convert the slow lane to the Micky D's lane, place your order when you get on the bridge, and puck your food up at the other end.
4) US Air and Space Museum - Set up teh McDonalds inside the Airstream trailer that the Appolo 11 astronauts decontaminated in after their moon walk.
5) Grand Canyon - When the group that built the skywalk over the canyon close their doors, McDonalds can take over that location and build the first "flying" McDonalds (to go along with the first floating McDonalds in StLouis near the Gateway Arch)
6) At the US National Archives where guests can use the cases that house the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights as tables to eat their meal.
/Sarcasm
@downwithmonstercable: The restaurant is not IN the Louvre, its in the food court in the underground mall next to the Louvre near one of the entrances - not the same thing. McDonalds has a history of setting up in or near major museums though - Smithsonian Air and Space and the LA Museum of Science and Industry come to mind.
Why is America losing this war to the FRENCH of all people!?
Look at all that wasted space in the Lincoln Memorial! It needs fast food now.
And that Wall thing, surely that can be fixed up into a service counter or something?
Come on America we can win this thing!!!
Its a food court, not an exhibit next to the Mona Lisa.
However, I can't help but smirk at the way they've assimilated American culture into a decidingly high art establishment.
Viva le Big Mac.
@pecan 3.14159265: I travel internationally once or twice a year, and I try to avoid going to the restaurants that I visit when I am at home in the US, but I admit it, there are times when either the local cuisine does not agree with my stomach, or when I know that it will be some time before I will get to eat again (right before a flight) so if I am left with a choice of picking something familiar and will soothe my stomach*, or something that may cause me a great deal of digestive distress, I will pick familiar every time.
*Since I was 5 years old, after I am really sick or vomit, hamburgers and french fries always seem to calm my stomach, and it has become my test to really see how sick I am. If my body is craving Mc Donalds, I am on the road to recovery, but if the thought of it turns my stomach, I am staying home and in bed. That said, I typically don't seek out a McDonalds unless I am on the run and am starving.
@pecan 3.14159265: Funny! My family and I were strongly anti-McDonalds in the US for a long time but we still visited McDonalds while traveling - especially in France and Germany where they are prevalent. We did so for several reasons - they were clean, fast, filling food where we could get in and out quickly and back to what we were there to see - the country - and they had available and free restrooms. For all the people complaining about American influence, these were filled mostly with locals - much as they are here.
I would be troubled by a McDonalds INSIDE the Louvre but this is in the food court/shopping mall outside the Louvre. I can think of fewer places that I would more want toget the eating out of the way and back to the exhibits than the Louvre... It works for the Smithsonian.
The Louvre McDonald's has agreed to hang velvet Elvis paintings as their contribution to the gallery.
What was a real turnoff was the kiosk selling whatever the hell they were selling inside Notre Dame. I mean this is a cathedral, not a retail outlet.
@ElizabethD: MERD!
No really...don't they use horse meat in French McDonalds...I remember it being somewhat gross.
How exactly can you assure culinary quality when almost all your products are shipped frozen to your location? Does that mean they'll be paying more to their "chefs" to be more attentive to the fryer or something?
@Scuba Steve: Yeah...but they won the french fry vs. freedom fry battle. Plus...Bic pens, lighters, shavers.
Soon we'll all be eating won ton soup for breakfast (please no one say "american chinese food isn't real chinese food" I know that...I just don't care).
@fantomesq: The food court isn't in the main Louvre museum area, I know, but it's still part of the Louvre. I don't see it as being a massive problem, especially because the food court already has burgers and pizza. But I do see it as being another eye-roll moment for me. I always did hate seeing people who should be trying French food flock to the burgers and pizza just because it was comfortable. French food is one of the most wonderful things in the world. It's a shame that the Louvre isn't doing more to encourage participation in French culture.
@H3ion: Almost every cathedral I've visited across France and Germany had similar kiosks. They are needed for the revenue to maintain the cathedrals.
@ElizabethD: Aux remparts! Tuer les infidèles! Nous boire leur sang!
PS: the tags are especially inspired for this story
@pecan 3.14159265: My wife's favorite was always the baked potato carts in London. She spent a semester there in college and probably had them 40 times in four months.
The end of civilization as we know it!!! Zut alors!