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McDonald's to close all their stores in Iceland

by mudricky | October 26, 2009 at 03:01 pm

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McDonald's, the massive worldwide fast food chain will close their last three stores in Iceland next week.

All the restaurants are in the capital Reykjavik but will pull down it shutters for last time.

The franchise owner of the stores there blame falling profits caused by the collapse in the Icelandic krona.

They were about to hold the title of the most expensice Big Mac in the world, but will close before they would have to increase prices.

Right now Switzerland and Norway are the most expensive in the world for a Big Mac costing $5.75

Lyst was bound by McDonald's requirement that it import all the goods required for its restaurants -- from packaging to meat and cheeses -- from Germany.
Costs had doubled over the past year because of the fall in the krona currency and high import tariffs on imported goods, Ogmundsson said, making it impossible for the company to raise prices further and remain competitive with competitors that use locally sourced produce.

A Big Mac in Reykjavik already retails for 650 krona ($5.29). But the 20 percent increase needed to make a decent profit would have pushed that to 780 krona ($6.36), he said.

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mudricky

at 15:12 on October 26th, 2009

You know Iceland is in a bad way when a company like McDonald's Corp. no longer have any stores there because they can't make enough money.

Hugh Askew

at 15:46 on October 26th, 2009

650 krona will impress the young man's date, but but i find the ambiance lacking..........

Jessica Tucker

at 15:57 on October 26th, 2009

Attention MacDonald Lover of North America,

Word is that due to mentioned price increases by the beef producers in a certain country unmentioned here, this particular fast food chain will have to start importing beef from unregulated,overseas markets to keep up with their customer base and profit margins! Goodbye Big Mac, hello MacKitty Burger! Mmmmmm. Yummy!