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Fast food giants set for a price war

TheCopenhagenPost
September 8th, 2015


This article is more than 9 years old.

Many of the company’s fast food chains are gearing up for a major expansion

Coming soon to a motorway near you? (photo: Daniel Barcelona)

Old hands and new faces in the Danish fast food market are preparing to go head-to-head in a price war that analysts say will benefit consumers.

American firms Subway, Hwy 55 and Pizza Hut have jumped into the market in recent months. They have ambitions to open a large number of restaurants across the country.

While long-time players like Domino’s Pizza, McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Max Burger, Burger King and Sunset Boulevard have said they will also be expanding.

“We are going to see declining fast food prices and promotions like ‘coinoffers’ from McDonalds,” Marcus Schmidt, an associate professor at the Copenhagen Business School, told Søndagsavisen.   “The chains will take part in a major competition and they have big muscles and many cards to play.”

READ MORE: New American burger chain coming to Denmark

Changing habits
The fast food wars are a symbol of the population’s changing eating habits, as more and more people are eating away from the home and on the move.

“We strongly believe there is room for new chains and expansions of existing franchises,” said  Pia Tobberup, the press officer for McDonald’s Denmark. “We are fighting for the same customers, so we won’t be letting up.”

Enjoy every sandwich
The competition will be especially tough for the Danish company Sunset Boulevard, which now finds itself going head-to-head with sandwich giant Subway, the world’s largest fast food chain in terms of the number of restaurants.

READ MORE: Pizza Hut coming back to Denmark

“The competition will of course affect both our price and products,  so we will have to be on our toes,” said Kristian Scheef Madsen, the head of Sunset Boulevard.

“But the market is favourable, and we are very hopeful.”


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”