On Sunday, Luci, Andrew, Becky and I went to Bern. It's a terrific town. Absolutely picturesque. The only downside to our visit was that Sunday was the first day of the real cold. It was very, very cold that day in Bern, and I unfortunately didn't bring my gloves. However, we did get to see the LDS temple in Bern, the Einstein house, a massive cathedral, the Swiss Parliament building, the Swiss central bank, and a massive fountain featuring a depiction of an ogre eating children. Classic.
Near the end of the day after touring Bern, the gang and I decided to take a trip to McDonald's just outside the train station. Now, there are a number of differences between the American version and the Euro version. Let me take these differences and categorize them into product offering and restaurant style.
The product offering at your average Swiss McDonald's, if the one just outside the train station in Bern can be assumed to be average, is of a much higher quality than the product in the United States. The beef is much tastier - much leaner beef with more spices mixed into it. The burgers are not as condiment heavy, the bread in the bun is of a much higher quality, and the burgers are smaller. The Coca-Cola offered at McDo's in Switzerland is much, much, much better than the American coke at McDo's. No Question.
Also, the menu differs from the standard American version. For the first time, I saw "deluxe potatoes" being offered at a more premium price than the standard french fries. Also, the headline burger was the New York Crispy burger - a burger that used McDonald's American reputation to its advantage. Apparently, Europeans can justify spending a few extra francs to get a product not only that is American but that is also labeled American.
Which leads me to the next difference between the Swiss McDo's and the American McDo's - the price. The burger alone costs CHF 6.50, which is nearly $7 with the exchange rates. The combo meal for the NYCrispy burger, the one I purchased, was just about CHF 14.-, which is just over $14... for a combo meal. I don't care who you are - if you are at an American McDo's, you are not paying $14 for a combo meal. If you're paying $14, you had better get organic fries fried in organic oil along with a soft drink completely free of corn syrup as well as a back massage to facilitate the digestion of that food product. No American would dream of paying $14 for a combo meal, but the Swiss don't bat an eyelash.
I'm convinced that the Franc has been significantly inflated to the Swiss. Everything costs boatloads of francs everywhere. Finding a shirt for less than CHF 35 here is impossible. But then, that's an entry for another day. Clothes shopping in Switzerland.... ugh.
McDonald's atmosphere is also substantially different in Europe. This McDonald's was contained in two stories of the 5 story building in which it was housed. Video games and an HDTV were on the second floor, as well as a couple computers for web surfing. McDonald's is working hard to attract a youthful clientele, and that is what they are doing. While we were there, the only age group of customer in the store was 18-30. I saw no senior citizens. However, I should note that we were there on a Sunday night. The type of person who is going to be out at McDo's on a Sunday night may not be representative of the entire customer base. This mainly doesn't matter though; it was painfully obvious that the restaurant was designed for the youth of Europe.
Given the higher product quality and modern environment, perhaps I can justify a bit of a price increase. But for the average American college student touring Switzerland, eating anywhere is nearly prohibitively expensive, and eating at McDonald's is no exception.
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