Pave: More Frenchness, SVP: McDonald's

Le jour 178 de Sarko

In a recent PBS show, The Anti-Americans (a hate/love relationship),* a French woman, who is dressed as a prep cook, excitedly rants on about the emptiness of American culture. Outrage number one: McDonald's. There simply is no comparison between the tasteless American mal bouffe and the delicious healthy cuisine of France. Having spent herself there is a pause, then, with no lessening of hauteur, she admits she takes her nephew to McDonald's.

MCDONALD'S GAINING SALES ON ALL FRONTS

November 9, 2007 (Chicago Tribune/Bloomberg) - McDonald's Corp. said Thursday that October sales rose 6.9 percent, beating analysts' estimates, as every region posted a solid gain. ... Analysts were expecting the Oak Brook-based burger giant to post global same-store sales growth of 5.2 percent. Total sales rose 14.2 percent last month, or 8.2 percent excluding foreign-exchange fluctuations.

Sales in U.S. restaurants open at least 13 months advanced 5.4 percent, while same-store sales increased 6.4 percent in Europe, led by France, Britain and Russia.

How does McDonald's inflate -- for surely it must be inflation -- this growth in France? France, where any Frenchie-on-the-street has a ready-rehearsed diatribe against the evil American food giant? Who is eating the McDos of France? McDonald's is not trafficking cultureless Americans or hungry Poles to eat in France. Who has struck this mortal blow at the epicurean heart of France?

Meet Denis Hennequin, President- McDonald's Europe and life-long McDonald's employee. And a Frenchman.

AMERICAN INSTINCTS IN A FRENCH EXECUTIVE

August 25, 2007 (NYT) - Head of McDonald’s European division, Mr. Hennequin is unmistakably French, from his accented English to the family home he keeps in Paris. But he also owns two Harleys, plays guitar in a band and has a fondness for classic American films.

Mr. Hennequin:

I’m a very French American. The U.S. has an incredible wealth of culture, it’s home to the best musicians. But my roots are here in Europe and France. It’s the combination of the two that makes it so interesting and challenging.

... The son of two lawyers, Mr. Hennequin, 49, dutifully studied law, but found business interested him more. When McDonald’s opened one of its first restaurants in France around the corner from his parents’ home in the Latin Quarter of Paris, Mr. Hennequin applied for a job. To his parents’ dismay he was hired, and in 1984 started flipping burgers as an assistant store manager.

Several promotions and 12 years later, he was named head of McDonald’s France. ... The first non-American to head McDonald’s Europe, he has presided over an increase in sales that in the second quarter placed McDonald’s Europe ahead of its United States counterpart for the first time. The reversal was brought on by Mr. Hennequin’s innovations — in design and in menu items — but also in ethos. Mr. Hennequin:

I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life playing golf or get stuck in a rut, so I told them there is more I could do.

Oo-la-la, a Frenchman volunteering to do more. Apparently not content to destroy the cultural cuisine of France, Mr. Hennequin is poised to polish off stereotypical Frenchness as well.

And finally, here is Mr. Hennequin, an avid motorcyclist, driving another stake into the ever-revenant heart of French anti-Americanism:

For me, my motorcycles are also about freedom and the American dream.

Oh, ouch, M. Bove!**

Other "More Frenchness" posts can be found here and here and here.

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* Sadly this segment -- along with five companion segments -- was removed from YouTube.

** José Bove, an anti-McDonald's anarchist and convicted felon, recently put himself forward as a presidential candidate, garnering a telling 1.32% of the record-turnout vote, coming in 10th in a field of 12. He also placed 10th in a French survey of the ten most loathed French politicians in a field of thousands.

PFFT (What is this?): More Frenchness, svp ½ | Rayonnement français 3½