Despite its reputation for gastronomy, France has become an American fast-food mecca. Between 2019 and 2023, more than 1,300 fast-food restaurants opened in the country, and over the past decade, sales increased by 61%. McDonald’s has the biggest stronghold because of its first-mover advantage. But Burger King, Domino’s Pizza, KFC and Five Guys are expanding their reach. New players like Popeyes and Krispy Kreme moved in for the first time in early 2024 as French consumers continue to seek affordable and convenient food options.
Chapters:
1:21 Chapter 1. France’s fast-food market
3:33 Chapter 2. Winning over the French
8:39 Chapter 3. Challenges
10:49 Chapter 4. Opportunities
Produced and Edited by: Natalie Rice
Camera by: Federico Campanale
Animation: Christina Locopo
Senior Managing Producer: Tala Hadavi
Additional Footage: Getty, AP Photos, Reuters, Domino’s Pizza, Chipotle, TikTok
Additional Sources: IBISWorld, McDonald’s
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Why The French Love American Fast Food
American fast food is taking over France. From recent arrivals like Popeyes and Krispy Kreme. We appreciate more American fast food than Americans themselves. To established favorites. Kfc, of course, because I love chicken. It’s like the hype. It’s the trend now. It’s addictive, I think, and it brings very much of a
Happiness to people. Between 2019 and 2023, more than 1300 fast food stores opened in France, bringing in €19 billion in profits in 2023 alone. Despite its reputation for gastronomy, the French palate is changing. France is McDonald’s and Burger King’s second largest market outside of the US.
A lot of brands want to come in France because France is an Eldorado. You do 2 or 3 times sales more than the other country. It’s a country that has a high propensity to eat, eat American brands and has the right demographics as well, that restaurants have found success there.
So how did American fast food companies win over the culinary conscious, fine dining, Michelin star loving French crowd? CNBC visited Paris to find out. It’s lunchtime in the Lille neighborhood in Paris. I take this menu today because I love fries and, uh, I love nuggets.
Between 2013 and 2023, fast food sales increased a whopping 61% in France. McDonald’s and Burger King are the biggest players. Their combined sales climbed to a total of €8.3 billion in 2023. Burgers play a big role. Quick service restaurants that served burgers accounted for about half of the country’s sales that year.
The burger has taken a growing share of the market over the last 30 years, and has become an essential item on every restaurant menu. But it’s not only burgers. American fast food companies, helped by clever marketing, built their brands behind iconic products. People in France went to discover, uh, other tastes.
And when you explain that with a good story with an iconic burger, you succeed. For Popeyes is a chicken sandwich. For McDonald’s, it’s a Big Mac for Burger King it’s a Whopper. We are the country of the Michelin, the Michelin restaurant. It’s like gastronomy, very high
Standards. And still, QSR fast food is very trendy. What that shows is that even though we appreciate food, we still understand that we love treating ourselves. In a five year span, the country’s top performing fast food chains, excluding subway, opened nearly 500 stores across France. Total profits for the category increased about 10%
During that time. In the most recent decade has really heated up from other newer concepts, more fast casual, that have gone over to France. I think American concepts have done a great job of making their offerings an affordable indulgence. The potential of France is huge given the appetite for
The customer, for both for pizza and for American brands. So you think that you have a great combination. France is a global leader in culinary excellence and boasts more Michelin starred restaurants than any other country. It’s home to esteemed culinary institutions like the Cordon Bleu, producing some of the best chefs in
The world. In 2022, the country claimed 157,000 eateries. More than half were traditional full service restaurants. Because of this, legacy, American Quick Service Restaurants, or QSRs, took a specialized approach when entering the French market. But I can tell you about French people is that we
Don’t get fed, we eat, and actually we treat food with emotion. So whenever you bring an American brand, you can’t just bring an American brand. You need you need to bring emotion with your product. You need to bring connection. Just given the cliché that France is a fancier place to
Eat, the concepts have really led with their best foot forward, really focused on modernized images, higher quality, higher price point, more innovative offerings as well. That includes sourcing most or all ingredients from French farmers, like the potatoes used for McDonald’s French fries and the chicken in Popeyes sandwiches.
It’s very important to build this relationship. They have strong partnership with the farmers. That’s why the QSR, American brands have succeeded. American QSRs have adapted to European Union food standards, and as a result, those products are healthier and less processed than the US offerings. These brands also cater to French palates by altering
Menu items or creating new products. But if we speak specifically about pizzas, you know what it takes is that you need to become French friendly when it comes to the product that you are offering. The one campaign that we’ve been running every year for the past six years, it is the raclette
And people love it. Our most successful campaign every year was the raclette. And it’s paid off. Many consumers now consider the chains to be just as much French as they are American. It feels like it’s part of us now. It’s American based, but we don’t really see the
Difference. There’s KFCs McDonald’s everywhere. McDonald’s has the strongest foothold, in part because of its first-mover advantage. McDonald’s was the first quick service concept to go to France and found tremendous success there. And I think as a result of that, you’ve seen that a lot of folks have wanted to replicate that success.
Burger King, on the other hand, reentered after a 15 year hiatus in 2012. Now, it boasts the second highest number of American QSR franchises in the country. Pizza hut arrived in 1987, KFC in 1991, Subway in 2001, and Domino’s in 2006. But their rapid expansions happened mostly in the past
Decade. Popeyes and Krispy Kreme opened their first French stores in February 2023 and February 2024. It’s a new brand in France and it’s very, very fantastic for the French people. Shifts in French society like digitization have allowed the fast food industry to flourish. Takeaway, drive thru, click and collect delivery.
All the QSR restaurants can do that. It’s a perfect match for today’s needs, with the hybridization of concepts accelerating even further in the wake of Covid. We have a very small part, for instance, now of our customers coming at the counter to order.
I mean, like it’s less than 10% of our orders, 60% are online. 1 in 5 meals in France is eaten outside the home. Experts predict that number will increase. It’s a young population, uh, high immigration population, as well as the fact that high GDP per capita country
That leads to strong unit economics across the industry. America’s pop culture influence is another powerful tool. For young people, they grew up watching series or movies where in America, you know, they were eating fast foods. So I think now, uh, when we saw fast food coming in
France, all the young people were pretty excited about that. Bigger portions and modest presentations appeal to even the most delicate palate. High inflation and shortened lunch breaks have contributed to a need for convenience. The American food is tasty, big. You know that you will be… Lunchtime today is around 42 minutes.
This prevents people from going home and therefore encourages out of home consumption. The QSR American brands respond perfectly to this problem with the development of digital tools to improve consumer quality of life. I really like good food, but you need a budget for that.
So when I want to have a really good French food, I take my time. It’s usually on the weekends. During my working time, i prefer to go to fast food. But the restaurant industry is volatile and highly susceptible to domestic and global changes. In 2024 McDonald’s and Starbucks executives said
That boycotts related to the war in Gaza caused Q4 2023 sales to slump in countries with a high Muslim population. That includes France, which holds the largest Muslim population in Europe. After all, France accounts for 7% of the fast food chain’s total revenue. McDonald’s also blamed its overall weaker performance
On pricing backlash, acknowledging a sales drop in the US but not commenting on international markets. Something I don’t like is the string inflation. They reduced the size of the burger and they raise the price. Subway has closed more than 100 of its French storefronts since 2015.
I think the more near-tum risk is going to be more macro oriented, that France seems to be the first European market that’s really succumbing to restaurant industry traffic and restaurant industry traffic softness. Staying competitive in the new digital age can be tricky even with decades of experience.
We come from a world where before 2016, the only people that were delivering were pizzas and sushi. I compete with pizzas on one hand, so I need to be the best in class in that universe. But I also need to be the best in class on the
Delivery business because again, in front of me, I do have sure actors like McDonald’s and BK that are between 7 and 12 times bigger than me. Not everyone has welcomed the expansions. A neighborhood collective in Paris’s 20th arrondissement protested against a new Burger King in 2023 over, quote, outdated environmental practices.
France implemented new laws that same year targeting fast food companies over waste. Now, Qsrs are required to offer reusable cutlery and cut down on single-use packaging. We have created dishes especially for the brand restaurants and their sustainability seems better than the others.
The QSR market in France has a lot more room to grow still. Chipotle, for example, has only six locations so far. Taco Bell has not entered at all. The burger, the beef, the chicken, and maybe the tacos in the future. Steak n shake now boasts 37 locations.
Carl’s Jr is playing catch up after breaking ground on its first French location in 2023. Wendy’s is supposedly planning a move to. The next push is going to be more of a focus on chicken, which we know in the United States to be higher margin as well as more younger consumer focused.
One of the missions was always to make our product broadly available. That’s in the next five years. We already have close to 500 stores. There is a big potential, but there are other ways to distribute our products. And that’s where also like we’re looking at alternatives. We have the pizza distributor.
The industry is projected to be worth about €21.5 billion by 2028. And so far, the French palate seems ready for it. The taste is really different in front of the other restaurants. I think they have a special touch and that changes everything.
28 Comments
Not just France, i think we can all agree that the US makes the best fast foods and junk foods. Wish i could go there again and eat their food. We got Dominoes, Mcdonalds, Subway and just pretty much every American franchise but most of them localized it to cater the locals…. Kudos to Papa johns for keeping it real. Probably the only franchise that didnt turn their food to trash.
This is instead of surprising, it’s rather sad
Cuz it’s cheap and filling and taste good? Not everybody has the money for the upscale fine dining every weekend, especially in this economy when Europe is slowing sinking? lol
Takes forever to eat a French restaurant. New generation wants change.
It is called poverty. Not obsession. If people had enough resources they would not choose McDonalds for lunch
For the same reason Hugh Grant cheated on Liz Hurley … the country who invented gourmet cuisine finds horrible food attractive … because as a culture they are bored. Very simple
It's also worth noting that the quality of the food in these fastfood places is a billion times better in France than it is in the USA. Quite funny considering these are American brands
The reason is the price of the restaurant
As a French guy, fast food in France are everything but not fast. The experience is really different from what we can get in the US. Prices are really high, due to local regulations and constraints. When I travel outside France, I’m still surprised how same brands are so much cheaper.
The only thing that I wish is that, we could get a new generation of fast food, with healthy food, like it exists in Portugal or Spain for example.
We prefer American fast food to Americans, that had me laugh
Interesting video but you should have also talked about traditional restaurants that are way more expensive than fast foods. And also about kebabs than even if they're not American, are more popular than McDonald's and other American fast food restaurants.
I’d prefer American fast food made in France too
As a French person I already knew the statistic of us being second, I think it’s because it’s so convenient. Plus in France we have a culture where you eat at someone’s restaurant, it’s not uncommon to see [name]’s restaurant and they tell you a bit about the history of the restaurant, same with hotels and lodgings. It can feel uncomfortable because there’s an etiquette and the client isn’t the interest but only the guest. It feels exactly like it sounds: like you paid to be into somebody else’s space. McDonald is relaxed and has become a professional at making customers feel at home, they might even have created a nostalgia towards it and a sense of safe place. In the UK they enjoy subway because part of their culture is sandwiches and eating wherever you can. Subway isn’t as successful with French people because we like to eat in a more traditional way, it’s generally long meals in family ( we don’t eat separately), where we socialise and there’s a set time for each meal. In my family we eat at McDonald when we go for a trip because we travel by car for a whole day usually. It’s interesting because we used to live in Spain and even then we went to McDonald twice a month. It’s for sure appealing to families
Many french people like fast food because it’s less expensive and you can eat your content. I don’t like fast food burgers or nuggets but i have to admit that they have adapted to our tastes. The beverage and burgers are far smaller than in america, the recipes are also different, the products come from our country. Even if i don’t eat fast food burgers or nuggets, i like to go to Mc Donald to drink a very good arabica coffee in a nice terrace full of sun. Mc Donald for example adapted to our lifestyle and that’s also part of the success.
We french love different kind of foods coming from everywhere around the planet like america, Italy, spain, Greece, Japan, korea, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Tibet,Marocco, even Great Britain with fish and chips or their delicious pastries. We are very open minded about food…to a certain point 😂😂
Somebody tell them.
The french love french fries.
I don’t encourage any countries to have a fast food restaurant due to possible obesity. Learn from our mistakes.
meanwhile i'm stuck in the midwest just wanting the chance for a good kebab
It's the African and Asian immigrants.
Population control by fast food…..GENUIS!
At least the French people walk and end up burning those massive calories.
How delusional do you have to be, to work with the assumption that majority of french people had the habit of dining at michelin star restaurants, its almost like only a very small percentage of the population has the means to spend hundreds of euros per person on a single restaurant visit. How is it shocking that your average man prefers cheap and fast meals?
I have a home in Provence, a place full of rich, retired people. Mcdonalds in Paris and the rest of France is very different. Outside of Paris, McDonald's is positioned as being a bit higher class than your average Kebop, sandwich, or Panini joint, or what would be seen as fast food for the masses. McDonald's is a bit more expensive, clean, air conditioned, and guess what, they bring the food to your table! French income per capita is around half that of Americans, so American is seen as richer and better, contrary to what Americans think. The French cann not even afford air conditioning , so going to Mcdonalds is considered a nice treat. The French are in awe of the rich Americans, not the the other way around. The US economy is growing like a developing country while Europe has been stagnant forever.
Hon hon hon hon ze Yan-KEEZ zer Whopper ez good non?!
The question is: Why are the French going to eat at all these Fast-food restaurants instead of sticking to the cafes and small local eateries, and in which regions of France are more people going to eat at Fast-food places?
I'm French : Non !
To me it’s a tragedy I remember when I visited the first McDonalds that opened in Paris on the Champs. It was “ fun food” but it never felt like food to me. I still stick to French traditional way of eating but with many ethnic cuisines added now. On fast food they had a Mangez,bougez campaign. (Eat, move( exercise))
I bet they definitely look much better than the ones here.