14 DAY TRIAL // In preparation for the Olympic Games, which will be held in London this year, one of the main sponsors of the event, McDonald's, has just opened a new branch minutes from the arena: it's the world's biggest, and it will hold on to this record until later this summer.
Located in the center of the Olympic park, the new McDonald's is made almost entirely from reusable materials, and it is officially the biggest and most impressive in the world.
It will remain so until after the Paralympics that will close the Games, when it will be torn down, with the title going back to the Moscow McDonald's.
The Daily Mail has photos from inside the venue, which was just opened for the press. It's truly a sight to behold.
The vast two-storey restaurant will serve up to 1,200 customers an hour and sell £3million worth 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. Yesterday McDonald’s gave the media a preview of its flagship store, which includes 20 till points and 1,500 seats,” the British publication writes.
“[It] 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,” notes the same media outlet.
“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 Mail adds.
It is expected that one in ten meals eaten during the Games will come from McDonald's which, naturally, begs the question of whether it's appropriate to have a junk food giant sponsoring such an important sports event.
Coca Cola and Cadbury are also sponsors of the Games, which only brings weight to the argument that the message sent to the world is that it's ok to indulge in high calorie treats.
“London won the right to host the 2012 Games with the promise to deliver a legacy of more active, healthier children across the world,” Jenny Jones, a Green Party assembly member, says.
“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,” Jones adds.
The obvious mission of these sponsors, that of selling their products to more people, goes against the message of the Olympic Games, that of achieving performance through physical exercise, Jones believes.