Lausanne (population 130,000) is located in the French-speaking part of Switzerland--about 35 miles from Geneva. It has been my home for more than 25 years. Every day I go for an early morning ( 7AM) walk through the city center. Wow! can you believe Lausanne is getting the very first Krispy Kreme donut shop in continental Europe? Not Paris, not Munich, not Amsterdam nor Brussels but, little Lausanne.
Krispy Kreme has over 1,400 locations.
You can see the Krispy Kreme donut making machine. However, I'm worried about the location as it doesn't get much foot traffic and kind of tucked away on a side shopping street. No drive-thru option here. There's no parking except for several parking garages several blocks away. Heck, what do I care as I'm a walker and a cyclist.
I went inside and found them doing practice runs on making donuts. The woman in the first photo (standing outside the store) makes the decorations on the donuts. Me, I don't need any dumb decorations as I only have eyes for the glazed donuts--not just any glazed but, the ones that are still hot/warm! As with all other locations they will have a red light switched on (visible outside the store) to let customers know fresh donuts are being made.
I talked to a man inside who says he works for Krispy Kreme International. "Why are you opening your first store in continental Europe here?, I ask. He answers, "it's a good fit". Jeez, what a lame answer. He could have said it ticks off several boxes and go on to say what those were.
So, it got me thinking about the number of American brands who have set up shop here in Lausanne and thought I'd take you on a walk through the city center and point 'em out.
Yep, Lausanne has had a Five Guys burger joint for about four years. The Florida-based company has over 1,700 locations around the world. I give the burger as well as the fries the two thumbs-up!
Of course you knew we would have Starbucks--there're are 35,000 locations in 84 countries worldwide. Matter of fact, there're three Starbucks in Lausanne.
Here's some trivia: did you know Switzerland has the most Starbucks per one million inhabitants with 7.27? Switzerland has 61 outlets.
More trivia. See that office building in the background? That's where Starbucks buys/sells/trade coffee for its worldwide operations.
See that outdoor dining area on the second floor (red tables) next to the Starbucks coffee sign? Twenty years ago it housed a Pizza Hut.
So, here's the building directory where Starbucks (bottom right) has its coffee trading operations. Why is it in Lausanne? Many of the world's biggest commodity trading firms have their headquarters in Switzerland. Companies say it's because of Switzerland's central location but, in reality it's all about tax benefits.
This Dunkin' Donut store opened about a month ago--just several doors down from competitor Starbucks. I don't think it'll last. Why? They don't make the donuts here--and I've gone in several times and the donuts don't look fresh. For several years now one could go into Switzerland's largest supermarket chain (Coop) and buy Dunkin' donuts. I'll give the place six months. Then again, with over 13,000 outlets worldwide--they company could probably play the long game.
This Burger King opened about four years ago. I love my burgers char-broiled and they rank up there with Carl's Jr. and Hardees. There're almost 20,000 Burger King locations around the world.
More than 20 years ago there was a Wendy's several doors down from the Burger King. I ate there but it evidently didn't do well. The number of Wendy's stores worldwide: 7,100.
We have five McDonald's in the city center. There're over 40,000 McDonald's in over 100 countries.
I'm heading down a ramp to snap a picture of KFC.
About five years ago the first KFC in Switzerland opened in--you guessed it- Lausanne. KFC has more than 25,000 stores in 147 countries. See that tall building to the right? That was Switzerland's first skyscraper (built in 1932 it's 15 stories)
Did you know Lausanne is the smallest city in the world to have an underground metro?
There's one of the metro trains.
This Subway location recently moved from its former location at Lausanne's train station. Subway has over 41,600 locations---making it the world's largest fast-food chain.
Not included is a picture of a Domino's Pizza outlet as it's not in Lausanne's city center. There're are over 19,000 locations worldwide.
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