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by makeitdouble 810 days ago
Well yes.

It all depends on how it's produced in China and also what's the marketing and the price positioning. It probably can get away with higher price by positioning itself as an exotic brand.

You could ask the same for North Korea, is a Big Mac really the same product over there than in Alabama ?
1 comments
throwaway4good 810 days ago
I don’t think there is a McDonald’s in North Korea but otherwise - yes - a Big Mac is the same all over the world.
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Snoupy 810 days ago
Let's agree to disagree even for that specific Big Mac. I think the likelihood of contamination/ food fraud, concealed scandals, etc is higher in China and NK. Simply knowing it prevents me from similarly valuing the Big Mac. In addition, I often enjoy freely joking about the stupidity of local politicians while eating... and could bring up the building standards, codes, AC, open restrooms, reliability of power grid, etc that won't match US standards and impact my experience as a customer. Anecdotal example 1: In July 2014, Shanghai Husi, a Chinese subsidiary of a US-owned food supplier was caught producing substandard meat products. McDonald's was one of its biggest fast-food clients and had been sourcing from the supplier for more than two decades. After cutting ties with Shanghai Husi, McDonald's China and its branches in Hong Kong and Japan were forced to pull many products from the menu due to a severe shortage of meat and vegetable supplies. Just 1 occurrence of them getting caught, imo more likely to occur in countries with widespread corruption and directly impacting the burger consumption experience/consumer peace of mind. Anecdotal example 2: when I eat I like to connect to wifi and freely browse YouTube
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makeitdouble 809 days ago
The point isn't wether the product is exactly the same. It's wether it's intrinsically worth the same.

You could be paying thousands of dollars to get your Big Mac in PyongYang, so technically it's available there, and PyongYand residents can there be declared as crazy rich on the PPP scale.

Same way if the measure was Toppogi it would be dirt cheap in PyongYang and Seoul but crazy expensive in Guatemala with one single shop offering it as a delicacy.

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