McDonald's, supersized: First pictures
inside the world's biggest fast food restaurant. . . yards from Olympic stadium
PUBLISHED: 17:15 GMT, 25 June 2012 | UPDATED: 13:48 GMT, 26 June 2012
When the Olympic Games
begin in London next month, the capital will play host to the fittest, fastest
and strongest athletes in the world.
But it will also be home
to a rather different superlative – the biggest McDonald’s on the planet, right
in the middle of the Olympic park.
So while the competitors
stretch themselves to their very limits, hungry spectators will gorge on tens
of thousands of burgers and portions of fries.
The vast two-storey
restaurant will serve up to 1,200 customers an hour and sell £3million of fast
food during the Games.
At 3,000 sq ft the
building, next to the Olympic Stadium, is bigger than the current largest
McDonald’s, in Moscow.
The Russian restaurant
will regain its title on September 9, however, when the London branch is
bulldozed after the Paralympics closing ceremony.
Yesterday McDonald’s
gave the media a preview of its flagship store, which includes 20 till points
and 1,500 seats.
It is one of four branches in the park, including two open to the
public, one for the athletes and officials in the Olympic Village and one at
the press centre.
Altogether they will
serve 1.75million meals in 29 days, with Britons accounting for an estimated 85
per cent of customers.
The main restaurant will
offer some of the best views across the Olympic Park from its first-floor
balcony, which can seat 150 customers.
It will be staffed by
500 of its top-performing employees from 85,000 in the UK, with 200 on a shift
at any one time.
The global sponsor has
been linked to the Olympics since 1968, when the company airlifted hamburgers
to US athletes in Grenoble, France, after it was reported they were missing
McDonald’s food.
But the chain has been
criticised for promoting the consumption of fast food at a time when people
should be celebrating sports participation and healthy living.
It is estimated one in
ten meals eaten at Games venues will be from McDonald’s.
Last week, members of
the London Assembly said firms which sold junk food should not be linked to the
Olympic Games. Cadbury and Coca-Cola are also sponsors.
Jenny Jones, a Green
Party assembly member, said: ‘London won the right to host the 2012 Games with
the promise to deliver a legacy of more active, healthier children across the
world.
‘Yet the same
International Olympic Committee that awarded the Games to London persists in
maintaining sponsorship deals with the purveyors of high calorie junk that
contributes to the threat of an obesity epidemic.
‘The advertising of
foods high in fat, salt and sugar is already restricted on children’s
television.
‘These Games will
subvert those regulations by providing a glut of sponsored messages for high
calorie food and drink that are at odds with the Olympian athletic ideal.’
The restaurant will be McDonald’s first sustainable outlet and 75
per cent of the building and fittings will be recycled or reused.
It is part of London
2012’s bid to be ‘the greenest Games ever’.
While the restaurants
serve fast food to the hungry public, McDonald’s executives will be enjoying
some of the top events from their corporate seats.
Yesterday, the firm
admitted that global chief executive Jim Skinner and UK chief executive Jill McDonald,
along with dozens of others, will enjoy corporate tickets to events such as the
opening and closing ceremonies, athletics and swimming.
The restaurant will
start trading on July 28, one day after the opening ceremony.
It will not open for the
ceremony itself, which many VIP guests and heads of state are expected to
attend, for ‘security reasons’.
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