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First they took French cities — now McDonald's is the new village café

First they took French cities — now McDonald's is the new village café

Times4 days ago
Home to barely 3,000 people, the village of Saint-Geniès-de-Malgoirès in the south of France has a fine 17th-century church and narrow picturesque streets lined with stone buildings.
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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