Yes.
Posted on 11/02/2011 9:09:54 AM PDT by Ebenezer
(English-language translation)
Its big yellow "M" on a red background is practically recognizable anywhere in the world, and it is one of the symbols of globalization, but there is one place in Latin America where the McDonald's chain did not have the expected success.
It was in Bolivia where, despite the restaurant's attempt to adapt to local tastes (including llajwa, the sauce Bolivians season their dishes with, and folkloric music), it did not succeed.
Therefore, in 2002 and after 5 years in the country, the hamburger chain decided to close its 8 franchises in La Paz, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz.
Now, the documentary "Why Did McDonald's Go Bankrupt in Bolivia?" explores the reason why the inhabitants of those cities turned their backs on the world's most popular hamburgers.
"Culture won over a transnational [company], over the globalized world," documentary director Fernando Martínez affirms in a conversation with BBC Mundo.
To Martínez, one of the keys to the failure was the price, since, as he explains, the cheapest menu [item] cost 25 Bolivian pesos (close to $3) then. Meanwhile, for example, a complete lunch may currently be bought at a popular market in La Paz for 7 bolivianos (less than $1).
"It's easy to attribute [the failure] to the economy, but people, sociology, and cultural aspects are behind that," Martínez points out as he explains that such affordable prices are due to the Bolivians' "close to the land" relationship that prompts them to eat dishes with traditional products "with intense and strong flavors and after many hours in the kitchen."
In addition to visiting traditional markets, the documentary interviews New Bolivian cuisine chefs, historians, nutritionists, sociologists, and Roberto Udler, the former owner of the McDonald's franchises in Bolivia.
"I grew up making several trips overseas and, in truth, I saw with envy that other countries had McDonald's and we didn't," the businessman acknowledges in the documentary where he explains that the multinational decided to close all the franchises in zones of conflict after the September 11 attacks.
However, Bolivians are clear about tastes. And, as the song included in the documentary's soundtrack states, "[no one] imposes on my taste either how or when."
“Fifty-seventy years of consistently dry, bland food.”
Is it possible to be addictively bland? Maybe they inject a tasteless dose of morphine, or something. Because it makes people go back and back and back despite being constantly disappointed.
Ask your friends in Cuba about the wide freedom of choice in foods that the government affords them.
“I never understood why McDonald’s is in Paris.”
My lovely little friend Lily is a Parisian, and loves the free wifi, and the coffee, and the best fries on earth.
When im ready to sell my soul and get rich, or get famous,, ill just make a quick documentary saying how McDonalds is evil, or gets a smackdown,,
Instant hit in the indie film world.
Is Bolivia one of the South American countries where guinea pig is a delicacy?
When the first McDonald’s opened in Panama back in the early 80’s, people went bananas over it, especially us gringos who couldn’t get to an American burger joint that easily. Panamanians, not so much. After a while though, the enthusiasm and novelty wore off.
I went back to the Panamanian arroz con pollo pretty quick, damn tasty eats. I love Panamanian (Central American) food.
On the price scale, McD’s was about $5, local food was about $2. So, on both scales, the local food was the winner over McD’s.
If given a choice between McD’s or locally prepared indigenous food, I’ll choose the local food everytime.
(Unless it has organs in it, I don’t eat innards. Unless they’re very well disguised and I don’t know about it. Did I tell you I don’t knowingly eat innards?)
seems clear,
PRICE
next...
Yes.
Mexico has very tasty/delicious indigenous food as well. But McDonald's is very popular with Mexicans as there are 205 McDonald's restaurants in Mexico. I would bet that if Bolivians had more disposable income, they might go to more fast food restaurants. Not necessarily McDonald's, but any fast food variety.
Interesting about Bolivia...However, in Brazil, McDonalds is popping up all over the place...
Obviously, I can’t speak for all of them, but I think it’s a safe bet that disposable income played a part.
Panama had a pretty decent sized middle class back then, but I don’t know how McD’s in Panama has fared since I left in ‘83.
I would venture to say that a McD’s, or similar, could be a welcome diversion from everyday fare once in a while.
Now that I live in the states, Panamanian, Mexican, etc. food is a welcome diversion from my current everyday fare.
Could it be the locals are tired of French cuisine?
Youth culture + convenience + tourists.
You can count on a lot of the patrons not being native Parisians.
Though Bolivia grows 800 varieties of potato, the McDonald’s Corporation could not find the Russet potatoes that the company prefers. So they are importing their French fries from Canada while they determine how to cultivate that particular variety in Bolivia.
That could be part of the problem. Better to have done whatever Bolivians do with those 800 varieties of potato, than to try to force French fries down their throats.
I suppose the fact that the average Bolivian earns less than $5,000 per year has nothing to do with it.
There re a lot of Starbucks in Argentina. There are also lots of McDonalds as well.
http://www.starbucks.com.ar/NuestrasTiendas.aspx
The “Where McDonald’s [sic]” could be left right out of that. :’)
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