Not-so-fast food: McDonald’s fans queue for THREE HOURS after local branch opens in France – sparking outcry from country’s dismayed chefs and food-lovers
- The restaurant chain has reopened a handful of its drive-thrus in northern France
- Extraordinary scenes showed mammoth tailback from Moissy-Cramayel branch
- But chefs who have been offering cut-price produce scolded the diners
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
French fast-food lovers have been sitting in three-hour traffic jams to tuck into their first McDonald’s since the stores shuttered in the coronavirus lockdown.
After weeks of being mothballed, the restaurant chain has reopened a handful of its drive-thrus including three in the northern Ile-de-France region.
It triggered a rush of people descending on the Golden Arches, causing roads to become gummed up as congestion ground to a standstill.
Extraordinary scenes showed a mammoth tailback from the McDonald’s branch in Moissy-Cramayel, Seine-et-Marne.
But while locals were thrilled their outlet was among the first to start flipping Big Macs on Monday, their euphoria was not shared by chefs who have been slaving away in isolation.
Extraordinary scenes showed a mammoth tailback from the McDonald’s branch in Moissy-Cramayel, Seine-et-Marne
Florent Ladeyn, a local chef who has been selling farm produce at cost price during isolation, scolded those who stampeded to buy burgers.
He wrote on Facebook: ‘After 6 weeks of volunteering to sell superb products from virtuous and independent farmers at cost price, reading this hurts…
‘Three hours in line to poison and support a multinational billionaire that is ruining our planet.’
Food-lovers began descending on the McDonald’s from 11am and the surge of customers continued until closing time at 11pm.
Valentine Pelous, who filmed the rush, said the congestion forced people to wait for three hours.
One motorist, Joshua, 24, told local media: ‘I had to use another road to go home because it was so gridlocked.’
The reopening triggered a rush of people descending on the Golden Arches, causing roads to become gummed up as congestion ground to a standstill
Drivers crawl through gridlocked traffic to get their hands on McDonald’s after the branch reopened on Monday
He said: ‘I thought I’d stop there on my way home, but there were already so many cars… I couldn’t.
‘In the evening when I went to play sports, there were even more people. Some friends waited up to three hours to get their McDonald’s!’
The mad scramble even prompted some in Twitter to call for the restaurants to shut shop again.
News of the opening quickly spread throughout the area and even pulled in punters from neighbouring towns.
Sebastien, another local, said: ‘I went shopping around 5pm and the queue was already snail-paced. It must have lasted until 10pm.
According to local media, McDonald’s employees are required to wear masks and are refusing cash payments.
France is trying to wrestle back one of the world’s largest coronavirus outbreaks, with 159,000 cases and 20,829 deaths.
President Emmanuel Macron has warned that the majority of the country will remain under lockdown, although schools will reopen next month.