Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.08.2015, Blaðsíða 22

22 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 12 — 2015
Iceland loves its international megacorporations and chain restaurants.
Honestly, just look at all the logos here! To give some context to the
current Dunkin' Donuts frenzy, we tried our best to compile a thorough
list of every international franchise that has ever operated in Iceland.
We read so many newspaper reports relaying the hopes and dreams
of optimistic entrepreneurs that we've started speaking like start-up
douchepeople. And then we got depressed learning exactly when many
of those entrepreneur's hopes and dreams crumbled, as the franchises
shut down. Anyway. This oughta tell you something.
Compiled by Haukur S. Magnússon, with additional reporting by Anna Andersen,
Gabríel Benjamin and Samuel Wright Fairbanks
Illustration Baldur Helgason
Iceland In Chains
1980
Iceland
GDP Growth
2 %
-2 %
-4%
-6 %
4%
6 %
8 %
10 %
12 %
1990 1993 19941987 1988
Dair y Queen
1954 – 2001

Global ly : 6 ,400 locat ions (4 ,500 in US, 0 .000014 per capi ta)
In Ice land : 0 f ranchises (0 per capi ta)
A man called Þorvarður Árnason opened Dairy Queen in Reykjavík in 1954, after growing fascinated
with their take on ice cream while travelling in the US, effectively negotiating Iceland’s first franchise
agreement with an American company. A few years later, in 1961, when asked by Morgunblaðið if there
was anything that they disliked about Iceland, a couple of American tourists expressed their displeasure
at seeing Coke and Dairy Queen signs (that and fermented shark and skyr). Tourists’ reaction to Dunkin’
Donuts can thus be thought of as “traditional” by now.
After a 47-year run, the last Dairy Queen closed in January 2001. “I’m going to change the ice cream
store here at Ingólfstorg and start selling hotdogs in addition to ice cream,” then owner Sigurður Garðars-
son told the newspaper DV. “I’ve closed the ice cream store at Hjarðarhagi and I don’t know what will
take its place.”
Fun Fac ts !
• Dairy Queen is the first American franchise to open in Iceland.
• Iceland was Europe’s first country to get a Dairy Queen.
• In September 2001, Dairy Queen advertised in the papers that it was looking for space to buy or rent
for its return to Iceland. There are no records of how that went, and we don’t remember ever hearing
about it.
• Read more about Dairy Queen Iceland and THE ICE CREAM WARS (an actual, dramatic turn of
events) in an upcoming issue.
KFC
1980 – Present

Global ly : 14 , 348 (5 ,162 US Loca-
t ions , 0 .000024 per capi ta)
In Ice land : 8 Ice land locat ions ,
per capi ta 0 .000026)
KFC is Iceland’s first and arguably most suc-
cessful international fast food franchise. Actu-
ally, successful doesn’t go anywhere near de-
scribing KFC’s reign over Iceland—the chain is
truly, fanatically beloved, its popularity among
locals often confounding visitors.
It really was “love at first bite,” too. The
nation collectively heaved with excitement
when Iceland’s first Kentucky Fried Chicken
(as it was then known) opened for business in
Hafnarfjörður in late 1980. The chain was per-
fectly charming during the courting period,
too, presenting its first customers with gifts of
champagne and flowers. Local media ecstati-
cally reported on the arrival of this first indi-
cator of international glamour and Western
ideals to arrive in Iceland for decades, often
getting poetic in its write-ups.
Wrote newspaper Vísir on October 13,
1980: “The sun never sets on The Empire Of
Kentucky Chicken. That Empire is a union of
55 countries spread all over the world; its min-
istries number well over 1,000. The newest
one is by Reykjavíkurvegur in Hafnarfjörður.
“Kentucky Fried Chicken” could well conquer
Reykjavík before long. Likely sooner than later.
Because the chicken, it’s good.”
Newspapers wrote long adoring screeds,
proclaiming a new standard for restaurants
in Iceland. The kitchen was clean as a whistle,
with signs forbidding smoking and remind-
ing employees to wash their hands. The food
was served a single minute after the order was
placed. These were new, exciting times for lit-
tle Iceland. And the chicken, it was good.
Now, thirty-five years later, the nation of
Iceland remains faithfully bonded to The Em-
pire of Kentucky Chicken, which currently
runs eight ministries in the country. And the
chicken, it is good.
Fun Fac ts !
• KFC’s Mosfellsbær location is reportedly
Europe’s largest. At least it was at one point.
At least, that’s what folks kept saying.
• KFC is still being run by some of the folks
that started Kentucky Fried Chicken back
in 1980.
• KFC is still being run by some of the folks
that started Kentucky Fried Chicken back
in 1980
.
Sbarro
2006 – Present

Global ly : 808 locat ions (358 US
locat ions , 0 ,000001 per capi ta)
In Ice land : 3 locat ions (0 ,000009
per capi ta)
Sbarro entered the market in 2006 to seem-
ingly little fanfare, and absolutely no media
coverage (we looked really hard). At that point,
Icelanders were perhaps too busy conquering
the world of global finance and regularly bath-
ing in champagne to properly celebrate the ar-
rival of yet another chain restaurant. Perhaps
the lack of enthusiasm was a sign that Iceland
had arrived. Or, perhaps, Sbarro’s dependably
bland take on Italian-American food was never
that exciting to begin with—although it has
proven popular enough to keep its three loca-
tions in business to this day.
Fun Fac t !
• Sbarro is by far the least written-up chain
restaurant in Iceland’s history.
Lit t le Caesars
1999 – 2008

Global ly : 3700 locat ions (4 , 372
US locat ions , 0 .000014
per capi ta )
In Ice land : 0 locat ions
(0 per capi ta)
Little Caesars franchise holders heralded the
Detroit-based company’s arrival in Iceland as a
momentous event that would bring the nation
of Iceland into the modern age of pizza making.
In interviews, announcements and advertise-
ments, the group of local entrepreneurs made
much of Little Caesars' products—lauding the
chain for utilizing only highest-quality ingre-
dients, and the latest techniques in specialized
food science (and a pinch of good ol' pizza mag-
ic). Lots of sciencey book-learnin' buzzwords
were thrown around—'pH', 'microbial', 'raw
materials', 'cooking' —to show that, while Ice-
land had pretty much been making dirt-pizzas
in caves for the past thousand years, the future
was now—and boy was it bright! This newfan-
gled future-pizza proved pretty palatable, and
was successful for a while—but fizzled out just
before the crash.
Fun Fac t !
• Little Caesars’ really did fizzle out. Its
final appearance in Iceland’s media is a
simple and sad real estate listing, offering
the chain’s sole remaining location for sale,
along with franchise rights (“Very willing
to consider trade-ins”).
Obesi t y ra te among adul ts of the populat ion 8 % 12 % 12 .4 % 23 . 2 % 21% 21%