Big Mac Attack

When McDonald's golden arches appeared in Paris nine years ago, the fast-food chain seemed to acquire a new international cachet. What better testimony to its cuisine than crowds of finicky Frenchmen munching Big Macs along the Champs Elysees?

But McDonald's claims that its Paris licensee, Raymond Dayan, has spoiled the company's image by serving food in grimy surroundings. Says a McDonald's spokesman: "Dayan's restaurants were so filthy that your clothes would be covered with grease if you stayed in there too long." The firm wants to take away Dayan's right to use McDonald's name for his 14 restaurants.

Dayan, in turn, has filed two suits in Chicago, seeking to protect his franchise and collect $500 million in damages. He says that he was given the French franchise on unusually favorable terms, and that the corporation now wants to get it back. Dayan admits that he had trouble matching the firm's American standards at first, but insists that both food and cleanliness in his restaurants are now comparable to those in the U.S. Thousands of Parisians who have given up long lunches for le snack at McDonald's seem to agree.

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