Iceland says goodbye to the Big Mac

[Persian]

Now that we have a person from Iceland posting, I thought this was an interesting news.

Iceland says goodbye to the Big Mac
McDonald's closes in Iceland as currency collapse takes a bite out of Big Mac profits

By Gudjon Helgason and Jane Wardell, Associated Press Writers
On 3:41 pm EDT, Monday October 26, 2009
       Buzz up! 478 Print
 REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) -- The Big Mac, long a symbol of globalization, has become the latest victim of this tiny island nation's overexposure to the world financial crisis.

Iceland's three McDonald's restaurants -- all in the capital Reykjavik -- will close next weekend, as the franchise owner gives in to falling profits caused by the collapse in the Icelandic krona.

"The economic situation has just made it too expensive for us," Magnus Ogmundsson, the managing director of Lyst Hr., McDonald's franchise holder in Iceland, told The Associated Press by telephone on Monday.

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.

[BrankoWasTheBEST]

Persian jan, Mike is from Liverpool in UK but he supports an Icelandic team and knows a lot about Iceland football. He is our local Iceland expert 

[Persian]

Does Mike support Liverpool team?

[BrankoWasTheBEST]

Does Mike support Liverpool team?

There are 3 teams in and around Liverpool. The most famous and the biggest is Liverpool Football Club. Then there is Everton Football Club which is actually older than LFC. Then there is Tranmere Rovers which is a good family club  that has fallen on hard times recently and keeps on getting relegated. They did at one time get promoted to the top tier of English football but are now languishing in the lower divisions.

Mike supports Tranmere  but I am a die hard fanatic Liverpool fan, just like how I support PP. Liverpool are the PP of English football and PP is the Liverpool of Iran