McDolus vs McDonald's: French mayor launches fresh broadside in fast food war that has split island town

A mayor on an island off western France has intensified his Asterix-style war against McDonald’s by creating a "sustainable food zone" to counter the arrival of the American fast-food chain’s first eatery.

Grégory Gendre, the Ecology Party mayor of Dolus-d’Oléron on the Oléron island has refused McDonald’s planning permission three times since 2014, on the grounds that he would rather defend local produce over American gastronomic imperialism.

But his battle has split the town, with around 150 people demonstrating in January for the right to eat fast food. The protest showed the extent of change in France since 1999 when peasant farmers staged violent protests against plans for a McDonald’s in a provincial town.

“Le burger” was recently proclaimed France’s favourite snack and France is McDonald's biggest market in the world outside of the US.

Spicing up the row is the fact that the owner of the land, Philippe Villa, is an opposition councillor.

In September, the mayor’s decision to block planning permission was quashed by a regional administrative court, which fined him €300 (£263) for every extra day he failed to do so.

But he has chosen to pay the fines rather than give in, and supporters have created a €32,000 kitty to fund them. 

With an appeals ruling in July pending, his camp launched a fresh act of resistance this weekend when around 200 locals created a “sustainable food zone” (“zone d’alimentation durable” in French) to cultivate local produce.

The use of the initials ZAD was an intentional nod at the acronym used by eco-warriors who recently won a decades-long fight to stop the construction of an airport near Nantes, western France, by occupying the farmland. 

The mayor promised to set up an "agricultural incubator", a canteen selling local produce, a skate park and grow organic crops on the land. French media have already dubbed the "alternative" to McDonald's "McDolus" after the town's name.

The pro-McDonald’s camp argues the mayor is wrong to refuse the 40 staff jobs and 30 temporary posts the restaurant will bring in.

“We have nothing against alternative projects, but we refuse that the mayor, due to personal convictions, prevents access to a trade of any kind,” Marc, one McDonald’s supporter, told AFP.

In a sign of how high tensions are running, the owner who sold land to McDonald's found death threats daubed on his property last week.