Eric Gravier, Vice-president of McDonald's France

McDonald’s is a global brand and a local company.  McDonald’s has settled in 119 countries around the world and, of course, settling in France was really a destination for a brand like McDonald’s.  France is a challenge, of course, because of its reputation for gastronomy, but it is an opportunity in the fact that people really love the food experience. 

The French market is a great opportunity. There is strong buying power and a fantastic agriculture and food industry.  There is good labour – availability of labour and efficiency of labour – and it works for us, at least it has worked for 30 years. We have the second best financial return worldwide after the US market and the French population uses McDonald’s in the French way. They do not come very often, but come in families and they spend more than anywhere else.

In terms of new restaurants, we will keep opening in traffic areas, which are still being developed in this country, while investing a lot in new decor and atmosphere, and a new destination to go to.  There will be free technology, such as free wireless in every restaurant, and of course new food, because that is the reason the French population goes to McDonald’s, of course.