So it is finally here. After McDonald’s, KFC, Subway, Pizza Hut and Starbucks, Prague has just recently given into yet another fast food restaurant – Burger King. Fortunately with this one the store is not located in the middle of the historical center like it is with McDonald’s or KFC – disgracing the neighboring 16th century Renaissance architecture (see the picture bellow). The first Burger King has found its home in the newly opened shopping center in Zlicin, far away from the downtown of Prague. It may be just a matter of time however, when another one of those “Kings” invades the Old Town square or some other Czech Mid Evil town and defiles its looks as well. Daniel Kaspar, the president of Burger king kind of supports my theory:”Our strategy is to be a dominant company in the region of central and eastern Europe”. The next plan for this company is to build Burger King chains in Slovakia, Poland, and Bulgaria.
I just don’t understand this. The UNESCO gets all bend out of shape because the Czechs are planning on building a skyscraper that is couple of stories higher than the UNESCO “police” allows for but the fact that all these fast-food chains just butcher the 14th century architecture of this country is just fine and dandy with them!
CZ: Tak je to konecne tady. Zacarovany kruh fastfoodoveho retezce v Cechach – hned po McDonnald’s, Subway, KFC, Pizza Hut a Starbucks – nyni uzavre Burger King. Oproti McDonnalds an KFC je ale lokalizovany daleko od historickeho centra Prahy, a to v nove otevrenem nakupnim stredisku na Zlicine. Je ale pouze otazka casu, kdy se jeden z techo “Kralu” otevre nekde na Male Strane nebo napriklad hned vedle Chramu Svate Barbory v Kutne Hore. Pan Kasper, president spolecosti dale potvzruje mou prognozu: “Nasim cilem je byt dominantni restauracni spolecnosti v regionu stredni a vychodni Evropy”. V blizke budoucnosti pry Burger King miri take do Polska, Bulharska a na Slovensko.
Ja tomu proste nerozumim. UNESCO se rozciluje nad tim, ze se Praha chysta stavit mrakodrap, ktery je o par poschodi vyssi nez je UNESCem dovoleno, ale to, ze nam ohyzdne KFC sedi hned vedle Karlova mostu ze 14. stoleti, to jim nevadi…
Sources:
http://praguemonitor.com/2008/11/07/burger-king-wants-rule-%C4%8Dr
http://www.abcprague.com/2008/11/24/burger-king-comes-to-the-czech-republic
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One of those ‘kings’…that’s funny. And sad.
This is actually one of the few “real american” things I am really excited about to have in Czech. McDonnalds and KFC didn’t amaze me, but since I first tasted one here in Kansas, I will always stand up for my proper Whopper 😉 By the way, I still have troubles with correct pronounciation (first time I pronounced it “hůpr”), I am really courious how the czech staff will handle it ;)))
There are just few places in Prague and none out of Prague that would sell a decent burger for reasonable price. So I hope this will change with BK, ofcourse also hope they won’t spread their huge round logos everywhere in CR
Hi Jana,
The truth is that I still haven’t tasted the heavenly “hupr”, so I may change my mind once I do 🙂
So the only thing that’s “missing” now in the CR is Jack in the Box, right?
Cau Jano, pravda je, ze ja jsem toho “hupra” 🙂 jeste nezkusila – tak mozna po jeho ochutnani zmenim nazor. Takze jediny co CR jeste nema je Jack in the Box, co?
I think so far there is only McDonnalds and KFC, and KFC is only in Prague, maybe some in the new malls where they don’t do much harm since it is inside. (Not talking about how much harm do the malls do themselves. But not everywhere – e.g. Andel in Prague caused the development of the whole area.) Pizza chains have no chance because the local pizzerias are cheaper and better everywhere. But burgers still practically don’t exist (offcourse you cannot call Mc a burger 😉 so BK just filled “diru na trhu” (to se asi anglicky nerekne hole in market, ze ;)))
I wonder how is Starbucks doing in Prague? I bet the tourists “ho udrzuji nad vodou” (I am not sure if “keep him above the water” would cut it as well :))))
Zajimalo by me, jak si v Praze vede Starbucks…cizinci ho asi udrzuji nad vodou
I don’t know how many branches they have, but those in centre are doing well I guess. It is way more expensive than in a regular cafe, but for example the one at Mala Strana ( Lesser Town )is probably at the same price level as other places in that area. I am going back to Prague soon, so if I have time, I will make a report about american chains and their impact on Czech towns and send it to you 😉
That would be great! Do you live in Czech?
A ty zijes v Cechach? Nebo je to s tebou napul??