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Amphibolos
Le bourgeois gentilhomme




Registered: 05/22/09
Posts: 626
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Re: fast food economics [Re: koraks]
#19191662 - 11/26/13 12:00 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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i shouldnt have used the word "broke" because its obvious they didnt go broke. 
From my experience, i think that the fast food restaurants were mostly popular in the richest neighborhood of the big bolivian cities like La paz or Santa Cruz. In the smallest cities where i stayed for the most part, there werent transnational franchises, but only local fast food franchises like "Pollo Rico" and such.
In the proletariate neighborhoods, its where the local restaurants shined. Its basically where the people spent their afternoon break before going back to work, it was like a mean to eat for cheap and socialize with your friends and neighbors. I think that the variety of food and the price was also what oriented the people through these places. You could have a complete traditional meal for like 12 bolivianos including a soup, a beverage and a principal dish.
However, considering that 12 bolivianos is still alot for the people of a poor ascentamientos family, there was a another type of restaurant defined by their mobility, like "portable" restaurants which sold for far cheaper and cibled the poorest neighborhoods. I think it was around 2-5 bolivianos for a burger and a coca cola.
So the rich were eating fast food through bigger franchises names, and the extremely poor were eating at the mobile restaurants or the food that they grew or cooked themselves. The low-middle/proletariate class were mostly eating in the local restaurants.
I take a guess here, but once the country will have an increase of the amount of people in the high middle-rich class. There will be more opportunities for the big franchises to prosper
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"Homo sum ; humani nihil a me alienum puto"
Edited by Amphibolos (11/26/13 12:07 PM)
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koraks
Registered: 06/02/03
Posts: 26,691
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Re: fast food economics [Re: Amphibolos]
#19191700 - 11/26/13 12:06 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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It'll be just like Russia and China, where it started small and then the whole McD thing spread like an ink stain on a piece of really crappy paper.
The likely reason why McD's pulled out of Bolivia in 2002/2003 is just because it fit in the list of countries it pulled out from at that time, and it also fit the major restructuring due to the bad financial results in 2002. It's not so much that the competition won; McD's just fucked up in the late 1990s throughout the early 2000s, forcing them to rationalize their business. New 'settlements' with weak growth are typically the ones that are pruned at times like those, even if they hold the promise of healthy long-term growth.
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Amphibolos
Le bourgeois gentilhomme




Registered: 05/22/09
Posts: 626
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Re: fast food economics [Re: koraks]
#19191727 - 11/26/13 12:13 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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But hell, 12 bolivianos for a complete meal, its like $1.7 for a soup with meat, a coca cola (in bottle) and a principal dish with vegetables, meat, rice/quinoa...
Maybe im idealizing but i like to think McDonald's couldnt offer that much variety for the price.
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"Homo sum ; humani nihil a me alienum puto"
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koraks
Registered: 06/02/03
Posts: 26,691
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Re: fast food economics [Re: Amphibolos]
#19191852 - 11/26/13 12:46 PM (10 years, 2 months ago) |
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Most Chinese will probably find McD's overpriced as well. Hell, many Russian today may even think so. Yet, McD's is growing strongly in both of these countries. It's not a winner takes all game, the fast food business. There's room for lots of market segments and niches - more expensive ones too. And if that wouldn't work, they could still source locally and try to drop prices that way. I understand they didn't go that route in Bolivia.
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