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Comment by forinti | Hacker News Reader

McDonald's in Brazil targets a customer base very different from MacDonald's in other countries. In the US, McDonald's is cheap fast food; in Brazil its stores appeared first in posher shopping malls. The local alternative (xis) is a lot cheaper, so pricing probably has a lot to do with market segmentation, which would render such comparisons useless.

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Pics of 'xis' from my street: https://www.google.com.br/search?q=xis+do+gelson&num=20&rlz=...

Brazilian here and I can attest to this.

In the U.S, I only go to McDonald's if I'm alone and don't have an option( Chipotle is closed).

In Brazil, you'll see some families choosing it over local cuisine for 'modernity' or even 'sophistication'.

What? Where?

You're either talking about lower-lower middle class, or far outside the large metros, I presume?

I'm amazed no one mentioned Bob's Burgers, at any rate. Are you in the same Brazil I'm in?

Lower-income middles class can't afford R$15 burgers with the average (not median, which is much lower) household income per capita being ~R$1000/month. In practice, less than 20% of families make that much. With combos, 10 meals would account for 20% of pre-tax income.

Data is a couple years old, but still relevant: https://sacrariopessoal.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/faixascm...

For what its worth, in my experience its similar in China. I even saw an ad showing a guy taking his girlfriend to McDonalds on a date.

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