MONSIEUR McDONALDS

It was not the most delicate turn of phrase. But then again Fred Turner, President of the McDonald’s Corporation in America, had a reputation for plain speaking and it certainly hadn’t seemed to harm his career to date. Examining the figures handed to him by Denis Hennequin, the Frenchman whose brief had been to expand the McDonalds’ empire into France, the birthplace of modern gastronomy, Turner was in expansive mood as he stood in his plush suite of offices at his Chicago headquarters. "You know I would never have thought", he said, "that you Frogs would have made it." And then as an afterthought he added – "not in the land where snails and frogs’ legs regularly appear on the menu. Well done to you all."

Turner’s judgement that a combination of burger, French fries and coke was unlikely to go down well in a land fabled for its food was not without foundation. What on earth could the Americans teach the French, the argument ran, when it came to the sophisticated art of eating? It was with some trepidation, therefore, that McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in Strasbourg in 1979 – considerably later than in most other European countries. Of course the proof of le Big Mac was in the eating - and it soon became clear that France was as receptive to le fast food as any other country in the world. And whereupon the green light was given to Hennequin and his team to embark upon a massive programme of expansion. Almost twenty years on McDonald’s France now has 640 outlets with an annual turnover of 8.8 billion French francs. It is the premier restaurant chain in the country, enjoying a massive 70% of the hamburger market, leaving its Belgian-run rival Quick trailing way behind. Nor is that the end of the story – for McDonald’s are continuing to spring up thick and fast – with between 80 and 90 outlets scheduled to open during the course of the next 5 years, which means that the number of McDos, as they are popularly known in France, should level out at around the one thousand mark. Not bad going, n’est ce pas, for a corporation which at one time had contemplated the wisdom of attempting to penetrate the French market at all.

Hennequin caught the McDonald’s bug in his early twenties and has been spreading word of le Big Mac with an almost evangelical fervour ever since. "I think that we made it in France because the expectations of French people and the reality of McDonald’s did not coincide. They thought that fast food was lousy, dirty, mostly for teenagers – and so on. But when they discovered McDonald’s for themselves they soon changed their minds. In fact we are a family restaurant – where 4 people can eat for around 150 francs. Not many places can do that. Or provide an environment where the kids can run off and play if they have had enough of sitting at the table."

Having graduated in law and economics from the University of Paris, Hennequin was not too sure what to do with his life. Other than to head for the nearest McDonald’s when he was on the road travelling around the world. By the time he saw the first Paris McDonald’s opening in Montmartre in 1984, he could take no more – and wrote to Turner in Chicago asking for employment. ‘We don’t need a lawyer or a taxman’, the McDonald’s boss said at the time, ‘or indeed a property man for that matter. But if you want to run one of our restaurants in France you can, because there are going to be opportunities in your country. If you stay with us, you’ll be able to work yourself up through the ranks.’ Which is precisely what Hennequin did – and fifteen years down the line he now heads up the entire McDonald’s operation in France even though he is only going to hit the big four O next year. And therefore surely the man to blame, is he not, for the demise of the traditional French café?

"Absolutely not", he replies with indignation. "I don’t think its true or fair to say that we are responsible, directly or indirectly, for the decreasing numbers of cafés in France. We are offering an entirely different product – no croque Messieurs or baguettes from us. And besides, who wants to go into a grotty old café where the toilets are dirty and waiters are rude too – that place should be out of business in any event. People don’t deserve to be treated as if they are rubbish simply because they might happen to ask for a glass of water."

Nor has McDonald’s France adapted its menu to cater to French tastes, with not even the slightest whiff of garlic in the air. And what might the best selling burger in France happen to be? Why, le Big Mac of course, in keeping with the McDonald’s in the 109 other countries where they are present around the globe. That said, Hennequin has gone out of his way to ensure that the company’s main suppliers are deeply rooted in France – with burgers produced in Orléans, salads prepared in Perpignan, and chocolate brownies made in Brittany.

If McDonald’s France is booming, however, then that puts the company distinctly at odds with the state of play in America – where the corporation’s fortunes have suffered a severe setback in recent years. In fact – horror of horrors – this year’s survey from the Child Institute revealed that amongst 11 to 17 year olds, McDonald’s had disappeared from the fabled top ten, with cool brands such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Levi’s and Coca-Cola stealing the show. And therefore something that should be setting the alarm bells ringing in Hennequin’s Guyancourt headquarters?

"We are happy with the way things are going in France", Hennequin affirms. "But that does not mean that we intend to sit back and rest on our laurels. Far from it. I would like McDonald’s to emerge as more of a themed restaurant – rather like Jo Allen’s in London. It should be more than just about eating French fries – it should also be an experience. Of course we should keep everything that has made us successful – cleanliness, good value and so on – but at the same time we need to move on from that to make it clear that we are selling more than mere burgers – but also a dream."

And what might that dream be? "It’s the American dream, of course. You might not have the money to be able to go to the United States – so go to McDonald’s instead! That’s what we should be emphasizing. The success of McDonald’s is that you can be in Lisbon or Peking – and get a little bit of the American experience. And please don’t give me that nonsense that this is threat to the French way of life. Tomorrow’s society will be all about multi-culturalism – and you can rest assured that it will take much more than a beef burger to kill of French culture."

Back in the swinging sixties, in 1968 to be precise, the Big Mac was launched on to the French market. It was the same year as the 1000^th highly successful outlet was opened in the States. That makes this year the 31^st anniversary of that legendary double decker burger. And for at least twenty of those thirty-one years Denis Hennequin has been knocking back the Big Macs himself, oblivious to diets and cholesterol counts alike. So has France’s energetic McDonald’s man – dubbed Monsieur McDonald’s by his colleagues in the States – not come to be thoroughly sick and tired of a two-decade daily diet of bun, burger, onion, cheese and pickle? Answer: - no – he has not.

"I learned a phrase when I was in England", Monsieur McDo replies with a twinkle in his eye, "and it has served me in good stead ever since. ‘A Big Mac a day keeps the Doctor away.’ All I am trying to do is to translate that self-evident truism into French!"