Prophet Motive

A FRENCH BURGER JOINT MAKES A RUN AT FRANCE'S 5 MILLION MUSLIMS.


In "The Market McDonald's Missed: The Muslim Burger," the Times' Craig R. Smith visits Clichy-Sus-Bois, France and a fast-food joint called Beurger King Muslim. BKM tries to combine Muslim concerns—specialized halaal (حلال) food preparation, cashiers who may wear veils, a cash register that says "peace be upon you" after each purchase—with a Western-style fast-food sensibility that the owners hope will pry French North Africans out of their kebab-shop ghetto.

At one level it's no different from McDonald's efforts to blend in with local markets (recall John Travolta's rhapsody about a European "Royale with Cheese" in the movie Pulp Fiction), but in this case the owners are French locals—and they're looking to export their idea: Morad Benhamida, Abdelmalik Khiter and Majib Mokkedem plan to franchise Beurger King Muslim and say they have 30 prospective franchisees lined up.

While Muslim-oriented restaurants will tend to have higher overhead than its Western-oriented counterparts—for instance, an outside agency certifies that the premises are halaal, and "bacon" for the burgers must come from turkey rather than pork—the soft power of a "by Muslims, for Muslims" brand may overcome any additional costs. BKM's flagship store in Clichy-Sus-Bois is already ringing up 800 transactions a day.