No more Big Mac for Icelanders. Monday, 2nd November 2009 Source : 4Hoteliers.com with input from newswires.

McDonalds has announced that the three McDonalds outlets in Iceland are shutting down due to the island nation’s continuing financial crisis with no plans to return.

The decision was taken because business has become too expensive to operate. McDonalds have blamed the crisis on the “unique operational complexity” of doing business in an isolated country with a population of a mere 300,000.
(Source: gair rhydd)

The costs have doubled over the past year and even though sales have never been better the margin is so low that they feel they cannot sustain the business.

McDonalds in Iceland uses imported food product from the European mainland, while competitors are using domestic raw products. A statement sent out by Lyst today said prices would need to go up by some 20 percent for McDonald’s to survive.

McDonald's, the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, open shop in Reykjavik for the first time in 1993.

It is not the first time that McDonald's has exited a country. Its one and only restaurant in Barbados closed after just six months in 1996 because of slow sales. In 2002, the company pulled out of seven countries, including Bolivia, that had poor profit margins. McDonald's currently operates in more than 119 countries on six continents.