Cycling UK Forum

Preston.

The bus station to be specific.

Canuk wrote:In the mid 90's Mcdonalds in a flurry of press and TV adverts opened 25 outlets simultaneously in France, at doubtless a considerable investment.

The next day the French government promptly shut them all down again, claiming that their promises to use only French meat /poultry, cheese and beer were reneged upon.

They stayed shut for a week, until Mcdonalds capitulated (at some expense given the cost of home grown near and poultry). To this day you'll see French flags all over Mcdonalds. They know what sides their parties are buttered on.

I believe in the uk they can source meat and cheese from whichever crap hole, chicken bleaching part of the world they feel like /is most profitable. You get the cuisine you deserve.

Well you believe wrong then. The beef is 100% British and Irish or so they say. Bleached chicken isn't produced or imported into the UK.

Mcdonalds opened their first establishments in France in the 1970s. Have you a source for your claim about the 1990's events. It is illegal, under EU law, for a member nations government to try and make a company to use only that nation's produce.

France is Mcdonald's biggest market in Europe and the second most profitable after the USA. Strange when the French Quick chain produces far better burgers.

French Mcdonalds don't sell beer either - they have Kronenbourg which is lager.

The first McD's I saw was in Singapore - of all places - in 1988.

The story I related was when they attempted to go mass market in France. Its well known what happened next. A gilet Jaune moment of you like. Macdonalds restaurant openings in France are still attended by protestors. They unlike the British still have a great respect for food and how its produced.

It was only very recently Macdonalds admitted that for seven years until 2011, restaurants in the U.S. used so-called ‘pink slime’ to bulk out its burgers.

The slime was made from pieces of flesh scraped from animal carcasses, spun around in a centrifuge, treated with ammonia to kill off salmonella and e-coli and then compressed together.

While such ingredients were never used in this country, where sales have remained relatively strong, a quick glance at sales in France show that market penetration in towns or cities outwith the huge French tourist trade is very low.

‘Is it true that Chicken McNuggets include the beak?’

Who knows what other lurid horrors they've got tucked away in the skeleton closet?

Canuk wrote:In the mid 90's Mcdonalds in a flurry of press and TV adverts opened 25 outlets simultaneously in France, at doubtless a considerable investment.

The next day the French government promptly shut them all down again, claiming that their promises to use only French meat /poultry, cheese and beer were reneged upon.

They stayed shut for a week, until Mcdonalds capitulated (at some expense given the cost of home grown near and poultry). To this day you'll see French flags all over Mcdonalds. They know what sides their parties are buttered on.

I believe in the uk they can source meat and cheese from whichever crap hole, chicken bleaching part of the world they feel like /is most profitable. You get the cuisine you deserve.

You think it's any worse than most manufactured foods in chillers and freezers in all supermarkets? I'd like to see your evidence for that seeing as you're libelous claim re McDonalds is pretty obvious.

Canuk wrote:Preston.

The bus station to be specific.

Actually a very popular destination that bus station / car park for certain group of people. Basically a popular suicide spot apparently. Is that because it's a depressing town (sorry it became a city just about the time I moved away, but to me it's still a town). Preston is a lot more interesting than Blackburn. Better too. That bus station is listed apparently. A classic of that style of architecture.

Brutalism is the name for it
The brutalist central library in Birmingham was demolished unfortunately

Bleached chicken is illegal in the UK and whole of v the EU. It's a process that's not licensed and any chicken product imports from countries that do it are tested. If it's in any EU branch of MaccerD's then I'd be very very surprised.

Most of their produce comes from UK. I used to know where their buns were baked, their meat is UK and Ireland sourced. It makes sense for French meat to be used too.

Last summer we went to eat at a French McD's. Their menu is different obviously due to the different market. It's actually a lot better. But then I was in primary school when the first Mcd opened near where I lived. My gran took me there. My grandad was American so it felt like linking with his country. It was very nice. About a good as the Mr Wimpy burger I had already eaten before then. It was a novelty to eat out without proper plates and cutlery like restaurants and Mr Wimpy. It was actually very nice.

I probably went 20 years without eating McD food. Unfortunately a young son got introduced to them so we have to suffer their food. IMHO their food has shrunk in size and the quality / taste definitely has got worse. Not so the French McD's. Their burgers looked like the pictures and tasted nice. Their drinks were better too.

I don't know why the UK puts up with what they do. For a start the pictures in the restaurants look very nice but you don't get anything remotely like that picture. Unlike in French McDs. Then the burger is dry and the whole burger is smaller in the UK. Trading standards should be taking an interest IMHO.

At least I do not believe the bleached chicken is possible (actually chlorinated but bleached gets your view across). Also the old beaks and bones claim is no more likely there than any other fast food outlet or indeed any other restaurant at the budget end of the market.

Cyril Haearn wrote:Brutalism is the name for it
The brutalist central library in Birmingham was demolished unfortunately

Brutalism is nice IMHO, certainly I used to like the Preston bus station. I really can't see what is wrong with it.

More hysteria, chicken washed in chlorinated water instead of untreated water with 4% salmonella instead of 20% salmonella like British/EU chicken. https://m.thegrocer.co.uk/555618.articl ... te=enabled

According to the Tusk Junker axis Americans should be dying in spades, its really just another example of EU protectionism...

Al

Canuk wrote:The story I related was when they attempted to go mass market in France. Its well known what happened next. A gilet Jaune moment of you like. Macdonalds restaurant openings in France are still attended by protestors. They unlike the British still have a great respect for food and how its produced.

It was only very recently Macdonalds admitted that for seven years until 2011, restaurants in the U.S. used so-called ‘pink slime’ to bulk out its burgers.

The slime was made from pieces of flesh scraped from animal carcasses, spun around in a centrifuge, treated with ammonia to kill off salmonella and e-coli and then compressed together.

While such ingredients were never used in this country, where sales have remained relatively strong, a quick glance at sales in France show that market penetration in towns or cities outwith the huge French tourist trade is very low.

‘Is it true that Chicken McNuggets include the beak?’

Who knows what other lurid horrors they've got tucked away in the skeleton closet?

It's strange then that Mcdonalds do more business in France than any other EU country.

You're mistaken if you think no one in this country has any great respect for food or it's production.

pete75 wrote:It's strange then that Mcdonalds do more business in France than any other EU country.

Its not at all surprising , given that France is, and has been the No. 1 tourist destination for many years. If you look at locations of McD and concentrations you'll see theyre mostly situated round popular tourist destinations and attractions.

The French, as a rule (but of course there are exceptions) consider it food not fit for human consumption, and abstain from it in huge numbers. Why would you pay 8 euros for a Big Mac meal, when for only a few euros more you can dine on arguably the best cuisine and produce the world has to offer?

Canuk wrote:

pete75 wrote:It's strange then that Mcdonalds do more business in France than any other EU country.

Its not at all surprising , given that France is, and has been the No. 1 tourist destination for many years. If you look at locations of McD and concentrations you'll see theyre mostly situated round popular tourist destinations and attractions.

The French, as a rule (but of course there are exceptions) consider it food not fit for human consumption, and abstain from it in huge numbers. Why would you pay 8 euros for a Big Mac meal, when for only a few euros more you can dine on arguably the best cuisine and produce the world has to offer?

I suspect it's highly unlikely that most of the Mcdonald's in France rely on tourists for their custom. For example many of the former mining towns in Northern France and the run down areas of Marseille have Mcdonalds - not places many tourists visit.

pete75 wrote:

Canuk wrote:

pete75 wrote:It's strange then that Mcdonalds do more business in France than any other EU country.

Its not at all surprising , given that France is, and has been the No. 1 tourist destination for many years. If you look at locations of McD and concentrations you'll see theyre mostly situated round popular tourist destinations and attractions.

The French, as a rule (but of course there are exceptions) consider it food not fit for human consumption, and abstain from it in huge numbers. Why would you pay 8 euros for a Big Mac meal, when for only a few euros more you can dine on arguably the best cuisine and produce the world has to offer?

I suspect it's highly unlikely that most of the Mcdonald's in France rely on tourists for their custom. For example many of the former mining towns in Northern France and the run down areas of Marseille have Mcdonalds - not places many tourists visit.

I suspect you don't know France, or French people very well at all. If you offered the vast majority of French people a free Bigmac at McDonald's, they would not surprisingly and impolitely tell you where to wedge it.

You can still have a 2 course sit down gravy dinner with wine in most small towns anywhere in France for 10 euros. You'd have to be a clown of the first order to honk honk for an 8 euro offering from Ronald Mcdonald instead...

650 million Mcdonalds meals a year in France eaten by 87 million tourists.
I don't think so
https://www.annieandre.com/mcdonalds-in ... mcdonalds/
https://www.thelocal.fr/20150703/why-do ... ds-so-much
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-mcd ... ?r=US&IR=T