8 Countries That Ban McDonald’s and Their Reasons Lifestyle – 6 hours ago

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – McDonald’s is one of the most popular fast food restaurants in the world. When compared with other fast food restaurants, McDonald’s is recorded as having the largest number of outlets in the world, namely more than 40 thousand restaurants.

Quoting from McDonald’s annual report in 2022, the restaurant with the iconic ‘M’ logo has 40,275 restaurants with 95 percent of them being franchise or franchises spread across more than 100 countries.

Even though it has tens of thousands of outlets throughout the world, it turns out that there are countries where McDonald’s has ‘failed’. According to reports World Population Reviewthere are nine countries in the world that prohibit the existence of McDonald’s.

So, what are these countries? Here’s the summary.

1. Bermuda

Before it was declared illegal, one McDonald’s outlet was located in Bermuda until 1995. However, currently McDonald’s certainly does not have a single outlet in this small country.

Bermuda reportedly has had laws banning foreign fast food restaurants since the 1970s. However, McDonald’s managed to find a gap in 1985 by building a McDonald’s restaurant at the US Naval Air Station or United States Naval Air Station (US).

In 1995, the base was closed, resulting in McDonald’s having to close too.

2. Iran

Iran and the US have a notorious decades-long feud. As a result, McDonald’s from the US has not been allowed and has been declared illegal to open outlets in Iran since 1979.

Interestingly, Iran actually created a replacement for McDonald’s, namely Mash Donald’s.

3. Macedonia

Macedonia is a small country located on the Balkan Peninsula, Southern Europe where McDonald’s is prohibited.

Launching from Reader’s Digest, McDonald’s had opened seven branches in Macedonia, some of which were in the country’s capital, Skopje. In 2013, the McDonald’s franchise group was found to not have an official license so all outlets in Macedonia were closed.

Since then, the Macedonian Government has decided to no longer cooperate with McDonald’s.

4. Yemen

Yemen’s unstable economy makes McDonald’s reluctant to open outlets in one of these Middle Eastern countries.

Apart from that, a number of extremist groups in Yemen have also threatened militant action against any McDonald’s that dares to open a restaurant in the country with the capital Sana’a.

5. North Korea

North Korea led by Kim Jong Un is a country that has ‘closed’ itself from foreign influence. Therefore, it is not surprising that McDonald’s is strictly prohibited from opening outlets in North Korea.

However, according to reports The Telegrapha number of elite members of the North Korean government managed to smuggle McDonald’s from South Korea for personal consumption.

6. Zimbabwe

In 2000, McDonald’s tried to introduce itself to one of these countries in Africa, namely when Zimbabwe experienced a major economic collapse.

However, McDonald’s International Franchising said that it has no concrete plans to open its outlets in most African countries.

7. Iceland

McDonald’s business was ‘destroyed’ in Iceland in 2009 due to a major economic crisis and expensive import tariffs on meat, one of the raw materials the company needs.

Apart from that, the Icelandic government is said to not like the existence of McDonald’s because Iceland is a country that really cares about health. However, McDonald’s is reportedly considering opening another branch in the country.

8. Bolivia

Unlike other countries, McDonald’s was the party that chose to leave Bolivia, even though McDonald’s was not banned directly by the government of that country.

Meanwhile, the reason McDonald’s withdrew from Bolivia in 2002 was poor sales, aka not selling. This is because Bolivian people are said to be reluctant to buy burgers from foreign companies.

In fact, the President of Bolivia at that time said that McDonald’s did not care about people’s health and only cared about company profits.

[Gambas:Video CNBC]

(hsy/hsy)