Mr Donut

One of those curiously sideshows of globalization is how many things that started off as an American institution and then branched off into international stage and there changed for the local market and even became a bigger success far from home. I was listening to one world traveler talk about Japan. Japan is fascinating because it is this mix of worldly cosmopolitanism and oddly one of a kind provincial culture. I guess that happens when you get a physically isolated population that is  97% homogenous.

In Japan one of the most popular places to get a good cup of Java is at the Mr. Coffee chain.  Mr. Coffee? The same franchised chain that once flourished in America. The last time I saw a Mr. Coffee was in Millville NJ.  Millville was once a factory town where glass industry helped support everything else. When glass manufacturing moved the town fell on hard times.

The Mr. Coffee in Millville was nothing like the ones in Japan. The chain that has all but disappeared in its home country has like this glamour secret life half a world away. In Japan Mr. Coffee is clean, bright and hip. Where you get a quality cup of hot fresh coffee with a whipped cream rose floating on top -and that flower buds and opens from the heat of coffee. Of course there are the donuts and something unheard of in Japan, the waitress refills your cup for no extra charge. They see Mr. Coffee as being so American.

In Russia they still love McDonalds. The first fast food franchise to jump in to the market behind the long gone Iron Curtain. It was hit from the start. A meal with meat and potatoes and no sour attitude. Soviet restaurants where known  for being dreary places of mediocre food and serving staff so rude that they even intimidated Parisians. 

The Golden Arches are everywhere and one economist had an index comparing the local price of a Big Mac to the hourly wage of the average worker. It was a way to show the health of a local economy with probably the world's most consistent and available commodity.  I believe there are McDonalds in over 180 countries including India -but there they use chopped lamb in place of the whole beef burger.

For the last 15 years McDonalds has made more money overseas than in their original home market

Woolworths was the Five and Dime thrift store that could be found on every Main Street. The chain was slow to move to the suburbs and shopping malls back in the 1950's and 1960's. But decades after they disappeared in America they remained popular in Australia. Down there everyone shopped at Woolly's .

Last year I was sent a picture of a supermarket in Africa. It was a surreal sight to see this brand new building and parking lot standing alone in the middle of the vast savanna. It was Shoprite, a regional chain that is barely holding its own in the very competitive northeast states of America, but is very successful in South Africa and Botswana.

In China, a nation of tea drinkers, Starbucks have made the same kind of rapid market penetration.  Maybe too fast for its own good. Like here in America, the novelty of a new  Starbucks has long worn off and no one is excited to see another one open.  Starbuck's profile in China reached a high point when a franchise opened at the entrance of Beijing's Forbidden City. 

It shouldn't be much of a shock to see old companies find new homes in the world market.  It's a form evolution, though the process and end results sometimes makes me smile.

Homer Simpson realized after examining world religions that almost everybody likes chicken. That maybe we can all get along and talk about our problems over a chicken a dinner.

Service organizations like the Moose Club are popular in England. The Kiwanis Club, the Rotary Club and Toastmasters not only have chapters throughout the world  but now have their largest chapters in Asia and Europe.

Soccer may only become marginally accepted in America as American Football may never find a serious audience in Europe but Baseball, the once quintessential American game continues to become a world game. I'm told Little League Baseball is the elite sport in countries like France, Germany and Greece. Even Turkey kids are playing organized baseball.    

In a way it's like seeing Hollywood actors doing TV commercials in Japan. Or seeing Japanese celebrate Christmas. It has nothing to do the religious holiday. It is a commercial re-interpretation of the images that America once broadcasted out to the world and now is being echoed back.  

        

It's something familiar but different. It's the message of liberal democracy, crass commercialism and pop culture that has been remade into something relevant for everybody else.