United States fast food chains in Europe

Dominos went away from Italy in 2022 after they couldn't compete with the prices of the many (many many many) local restaurant who offered better quality products for lower prices
- Domino's in Italy?
  The fucking audacity lmao
- We recently went to Italy. Went to a local restaurant, three kids and us two adults. The kids wanted some specific pizza each, but they also offered a family Margherita for 14 bucks, so we ordered this together with the kids' pizza, assuming us two parents could eat that and maybe some leftovers.
  That fucker was huge. I think 50 cm diameter? The family pizza alone probably would have fed all of us, the regular ones weren't small either. With prices being what they are, I'm sometimes happy if I can eat properly for 14 bucks in a restaurant. A meal for two for that price would be a good deal. Taking three kids to a restaurant for that price was a damn steal.
  The next day the leftovers alone were enough for lunch and supper. The day after that we went back to the same place.
  
  Lmao yeah the "family" size usually is for 4/6 people and is often referred as "pizza al metro" which means "pizza by meter" (as in a literal meter or 2 of pizza) and is usually bought for parties
- IM SHOCKED

Wendy's can't open shops in The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg because there is a guy with a snackbar with a similar name in Goes that has the right to the name since 1995 in the Benelux.
- The best part is that if they asked the guy nicely he’d be all too happy to struck a deal for an early retirement, but in typical American fashion they immediately showed up with lawyers and sued.
  He made provisions since to ensure the US Wendy’s will never get that name, including opening more locations so that they’re now a “fast food chain” as well.
- Doesn’t stop them opening up as “Hungry Janet” or something.
  Burger King opened as Hungry Jacks in (Queensland?) Australia as “Burger King” already existed. But is also now trading under the “Burger King” brand in some places.

We have dunkin' donuts in the Netherlands.
- Yeah was about to say the same. Also, do we really have pizza hut here? Never seen one.
  
  Neither seen Taco Bell that frequent, where are those?!
  
  I saw one in Amersfoort, near Amersfoort Vathorst train station. Decided to try it once, and only once. It is disgustingly greasy.

Another unsourced map with probably heaps of inaccuracies. Everyone will becalling out errors in this map. I know at least one: Netherlands has Dunkin' Donuts.
Can we have a rule against unsourced informational maps? They're always wrong
- You're right, we probably need to be more vigilant against map misinfo in the future. This one seems harmless but of course there are more serious maps posted here too.
  Fwiw, this map has a (very vague) source information:
  And from what I could see, it seemed at least partly accurate—e.g. Spain has Taco Bell, but Germany does not. The major issue is that there is no year indicated here, so all information is probably pre-2022.
- The mods of most communities seem to care more about traffic than about stopping the spread of misinformation and it hurts everyone.

I really wouldn't mind, if they all disappeared.
- Many of us who live in the U.S. feel the same way.

Not a lot of fake Mexican food fans in Europe I guess lol
- They don't have many real Mexican food restaurants either
  
  i'm not gonna vouch for authenticity but mexican and texmex is pretty standard fare in pretty much any medium sized town (in Germany)
- Depending on your definition of "Mexican" food.
  
  Taco Bell is definitely not real Mexican food! That's why I specified "fake" lol
- Sweden does fake mexican well enough by itself. In fact, it’d be hard to be any faker.
- Not really many mexican immigrants here so mexican food isn't that big either. mexican food here is something you do at home for weekdays and it is often wheat tortillas with ground beef spiced with a ready made spice packet, salsa from a jar, perhaps also fake quacamole from a jar, cheese, french cream or often a local similar lower fat diary product i don't know the name of in english, onion tomato and lettuce, sometimes also ketchup. Living in finland in my city there are taco bells(never tried and never will) and like 1 decent mexican restaurant(not authentic mexican but still actually good)
- That's why they had to re-film the taco Bell scene in demolition man for the European release
  
  What was changed?
- We have Turkish kebab/döner, which fills the similar slot than Mexican food.

I doubt the accuracy of this map. I have never seen a dominos in Sweden and I've seen a few dunkin donuts so the map is, at least not fully accurate. Also didn't McDonald's shut down in Russia?
Could you please post a source for this map?
- I don't speak Swedish, but there seem to be plenty of Dominos in Sweden.
  https://www.dominos.se/butiker
  Edit: and no Dunkins since 2018
  EditEdit: late to the party, gixx@lemmy.world wrote the same a few hours ago.
- McDonalds in Russia, like most other companies, “shut down” in name only. All the same locations operate and sell the same burgers and fries, only the branding changed.
  
  Now called "Вкусно и точка", which roughly translates as "Tasty. Period". Already known in folklore, by striking out the middle 4 letters, as "Вкус очка" - "Taste of asshole". Also gave birth to some of the funniest street art I've ever seen: Warning, as NSFW as it gets
  
  It's all franchise, so McDonald's doesn't really own anything, and the ingredients are not flown in from america, so when they shut down officially in Russia all the franchisees just continued operating under a different brand, it's not hard to see how that happened.
- There is only a couple of Dominos in Sweden, on the west coast. Visited one in Gothenburg a couple of years ago. Dunkin went bankrupt and left.
- It says Wikipedia in the bottom right corner.
- source and/or age? It may be out of date.
- On the flip side, it shown no Domino's pizza in Latvia, but we have it now

This map is incorrect. Denmark has one last Pizza Hut in Roskilde and there's literally a Dunkin Donuts in Cooenhagen Central
- You have to be careful when you have a case of the dunks it spreads
- And dominos shut down, no?

I was in Nederlands a week ago and saw a Dunkin' there. So this is wrong :O
- Very true, those can be found occasionally; on the contrary you'd be hard pressed to find a Pizza Hut anywhere. As far as I can tell, there's just two branches left in two major cities.

Map is either pre 2017 or wrong, Dunking opened at least 1 location in Switzerland around 2018.
- There's at least one in Basel now

A little big wrong. Finland has had KFC for 2-3 years now.

I feel like a map of actual locations would be more informative than coloring the entire country because they may have 1 franchise location...

there's Dunkin in Switzerland now
- Denmark as well. It seems they're taking over Europe.
  Is it worth trying?
  
  They're decent donuts. coffee sucks though.
  
  They're not really all that good. But their presence might convince Krispy Kreme to try, which are significantly better doughnuts.
- Dunkin has been in the Netherlands as well for a few years now.

Starbucks map is a joke for Sweden in any case. We only have two, both in central Stockholm.
- Electoral college maps, now coming to Europe!
- There are some in Luxemburg also, which the source doesn't seem to know about. I.e. the data seems very outdated, or somewhat random.

The Netherlands also has this disgusting Dunkin crap.
- They're coming to France as well. Along with another donut chain, the name of which I have forgotten. The swarm of crap is never ending.
  
  Correction, unless they’re doing different in Europe.
  Dunkin (Donuts) is now a “coffee” chain that accidentally has donuts still
- Do we have taco bell? I've never seen one.
  
  I saw one in Utrecht a few weeks back, near Leidsche Rijn.

There are Dunkin' donuts in Switzerland. Don't know when this map was made
- Also in Austria and they have been here for at least two years.
- Also in Denmark.
- Based on it saying we have pizza hut in Norway, and they pulled out of the country in 2000... Old.
- Are you from Switzerland? Here in America, the slogan for Dunkin is "American runs off Dunkin'". I'm wondering what it is there?

Is this what the people on 9g*g are alluding to when they keep telling me that European culture is being destroyed by foreign invaders?
- As far as I can tell every european country has it's own type of fast food, sometimes even with variations within the country to the point that it might as well be different things. Just because it's not a gigantic company selling it to you doesn't mean it's not fast food.
  
  Yes, fast food is fast food, regardless of the retailer. But here we are talking about US (foreign) chains in Europe (native). Thus the 9g*g joke.

I've lived in Norway for basically my entire life, and I've never seen a pizza hut here...
- We had two that I remember: Gardermoen and Værnes. They are both gone now. Guessing 5-6 years.

- is this a joke? we have Taco Bell in Finland and it's by far the worst fast food there is.
  
  don’t you test us now… that’s how you get an Arby’s in your town.
  
  It was only decent for the brief moment when they first opened here and had pulled pork.
  The map also doesn't show that Finland has KFC
- All the countries have their own shitty Mexican fast food

Sweden here. We have Starbucks but it is far far from popular, I think the main demographic is young women, Swedes don't typically go for sweet/weak coffee like what they serve.
Dunkin' has existed but I think it absolutely failed.
Pizza hut exists, but not in many locations, however they have been around a long time and I think they are moderately successful.
Burger King snd McDonalds thrive and have many locations. McDonalds struggle in the northern region where people swear by Max burgers instead.
Subway exist with moderate amounts of locations, have been for a long time. Probably doing okay.
Kfc is rare, but exists in the larger cities.
Dominos exists but I don't know who is buying, in my opinion its sub par pizza at a high price point with poor service and long delivery times.
- i feel like espresso house is what generally fills the niche of starbucks here
  
  I would agree

As a Brit, I can't say I'm surprised that Spain and ourselves are the only ones who every single one of these chains in our countries.
- I think Taco bell is quite new? I believe I've only seen two. I can't remember the first time I saw one but I saw one recently in Exeter.
  There's also a Hooters in Nottingham. I believe that's the only one in the country?
  
  Used to have Taco Bell in the UK in the late eighties and early nineties. Used to eat at it (Coventry Street) every time I used to hang out in the West End and when I got my first job out of Uni in Soho used to eat there nearly every day. Think a bean burrito cost £0.49.
  
  Amusingly, I've been to that Hooters on a stag do. Was pretty good overall - tiddies are simply an added bonus!

Bosnian here: Mac is gone, but KFC and Burger King are here

Recently went to burger king and McDonald's in Hungary. The food was a whole different level better than in Germany, it was nearly insane how good it was.

I hate this so much. Even if I have the time and money to escape this dump it's spread so far I'd have to go live in North Korea to actually escape it, entirely defeating the purpose.
- Even though they have spread across Europe, I think most countries still have dramatically less of these chain restaurants than in the US
  
  At least for Norway, they are quite spread out except for McD which is everywhere.
  I’d agree for most places I’ve been to in Europe. Few American chains outside cities

Nowhere is safe ☹️

Now I want a chart with "Most popular fast food chain by country" just to see Iceland being one of the few domino's countries.

This image needs some correction for Norway. Only SubWay, MCD and BK are prevalent. Dominos have mainly places on Oslo, and a the rest are mainly in the larger cities. Starbucks 10. Most in downtown Oslo. Think Pizza Hut pulled out of Norway years ago
- It should have been a color gradient per capita. Starbucks has a very poor holding in Portugal because Portuguese people like good espressos, not dirty water.
  
  Think they caters to tourists in Oslo juding by the location map
- Yupp, pizza hut pulled out in 2000
  
  Not completely, as they had some locations in airports, both Gardermoen and Værnes at least. Not sure when they closed, but I ate at both somewhere around 2018.
  They disappeared before Covid hit and I swapped to a non-traveling job though.

I genuinely feel sorry for the countries that have Pizza Hut but not Taco Bell
- Can't speak for anyone else but Norway barely has pizza hut, maybe some airports.
  
  Nah. Think they pulled out years ago

All of those exist here in colombia except the one i miss the most, Taco Bell.
7 years without a crunchwrap supreme can drive a man to craziness.

I see many Mcdonalds openning in greece the recent years, especially drive-throughs and I dont really like where this is going..

The one I really want we don't have. (Germany)
- Taco Bell? Apparently they want to open 100-150 locations in Germany in the next five years starting with Berlin this year. Besides that their only locations I'm aware of are not publicly accessible as they're all on american military bases.

Crazy that so many of them are still operating in Russia...
- It's not up to date.

I remember one time, back in the early 00s, when an American tourist asked me where to find a Burger King or a McDonalds, and I told him we didn't have those. He gave me an incredulous look.
Nowadays we have those, domino's pizza... At least we don't have taco bell, dunkin donuts or starbucks (afaik), but yeah, we're getting americanized :(

The last Taco Bell in Iceland closed a couple of months ago.

The one that surprised me is Hooters. They were in Vienna, Budapest, and Prague just to name a couple places. There is a KFC in Venice. There are several Taco Bell in Barcelona including one across the street from La Sagrada Familia. You can see a Burger King and a Subway "sandwich" shop from the Eiffel tower.
My travels in Europe surprised the hell out of me. Virtually every metro area is full of American trash food chains. The one cool thing is they sometimes have local variations on food. I ate at a KFC in Prague out of morbid curiosity and they had an interesting take on the spicy chicken sandwich.

Italian here, just to add my two cents, it also depends on the city. I live in a non-major city, all i have seen is:
McDonalds
maybe two Burger Kings
and, very recently, exactly one KFC. In a far-ass place i can't reach by bus(i don't have a driving license yet).
EDIT: Two KFCs now

Except for Taco Bell that is practically non-existing in Europe, they all still have presence in Russia?

The only burger king in Slovenia closed years ago.

Germany:
McDonalds since forever. I remember once having a birthday party there as a kid. That was when they still had all these mascots like Ronald and the purple guy and it was all big fun. Somehow they are seen as „not healthy but good quality“ and have been a staple in popular culture and occasionally they unleash the famous „Big Rösti“ which is like a fifth season for some people
Burger King also exists since forever. It was always the second choice to McD. It doesn’t have a great reputation when it comes to cleanliness.
KFC was actually the very first American fast food chain to invade Germany but they never expanded as much as they could have
Subway started in the early 2000s and really took off. Also not the best reputation on food safety but still a goto place for many
Starbucks also took off in the early 2000s. Used to be really cool because it had comfy chairs, a chill flair and wasn’t so crowded. Not anymore and now we have many small independent places to get much better coffee from
Dominoes tried in the 80s, failed and came back in the 2010s and continues failing
Pizza Hut also started in the 80s. It was rare and I fucking loved it. Now it’s even rarer.
Taco Bell only exists in US military bases but they plan to open some restaurants to the public soon. I’m not convinced it will be a hit.
Dunkin‘ Donuts also started early 2000 but took a while to really expand. It used to be that when someone went to one of the few cities with a Dunkin they had to bring a pack of donuts.
Not on the map: Five Guys. They started in the late 2010s. I was excited because I remember going to one in the US and getting the bag filled up with tasty French fries but here in Germany they are very picky with the amount and it is too expensive. I don’t think it will go very far here.
Most of the US chains started either in Berlin or Frankfurt, I guess because that’s were most of the US military was stationed and now it’s just tradition.
I personally don’t go to most of them anymore but they remain successful even if Americas reputation in Germany has been on the floor for a long time now.
- filled up with tasty French fries but here in Germany they are very picky with the amount and it is too expensive. I don’t think it will go very far here.
  Since covid portions in us on fries also got gutted.
  Its like 20 bucks for Burger and fries there now 🤡

Come to Spain, we have everything

Source?

Now the same map but for ALDI in the US.
- We got an Aldi a couple of years back in my hick town. I cannot imagine why that place isn't packed.
  Haven't yet spent $200 in a single trip, and we're not buying cheap food. One trip was $130, and that covered 2-weeks for 2 kids and 2 adults.
- And Lidl and IKEA for some variety.
  
  Quick reminder that IKEA is evil, raping the planet and makes garbage furniture for not great prices :)

Don't think Domino's is in Denmark any more?

UK: never seen a taco bell or dunking donuts
- Both can be found in Cambridge
  
  Where? I never saw them there, but equally didn't go far from the centre
- There’s a well known fight video from Taco Bell, Swansea, Wales. That’s how I knew they’d reached the UK. (I believe the staff member involved - rightly - kept their job.)

There's a Dunkin in Lucerne tho.

Seems like I should move to the Balkans to avoid this stuff

subway exited Estonia for some stupid reasons i guess.

Do ypu guys have Chicken Treat or Red Rooster?

I almost always get KFC in Utrecht but mostly because I can talk like the colonel and not get looks

There's a Subway and Burger king in Germany. They're just on a US military base.
Edit: I have been dutifully informed that these chains are more prolific than I experienced many years ago. The comment was more establishing a difference in reality and the map.
- They are in every city
  
  There‘s at least three Subways and two Burger Kings in my city alone, and this town is far from the size like Cologne or similar places.
- What do you mean? They are everywhere.

Can we have a rule against unsourced informational maps? They're always wrong