Fast Food Giant Draws Local Fire
By Zoraida Diaz, the beachtimes.com

A war of words has broken out in Tamarindo over the humble hamburger.

Residents of the beachside tourist town are upset over the appearance of a Burger King restaurant in the main street, and this week their ire spilled over to a campaign to be rid of the fast food chain.

Laminated signs, urging residents not to support the chain, began appearing in restaurants, hotels and even on the door of a classroom of a local school.

The signs accuse Burger King, which began operations in Tamarindo about six weeks ago from a specially-designed truck, of destroying local culture, creating rubbish and of making no investment in the community.

“Burger King does not represent Tamarindo,” said one of the campaign organizers, who would not be named. “People don’t come here for the American fast-food experience; they come here for the local experience.”

“People here really care about Tamarindo and its long-term growth and development,” he said. “We can’t support something that doesn’t support the community.”

The vehemence of anti-fast food feeling has taken Burger King by surprise.

“We are surprised by this attitude, it is the first time this has happened to us,” said Sandra Rubinstein, Executive Vice President of Corporación Alimentos del Rey, S.A., which holds the Burger King franchise.

“Wherever we go, we have been welcomed and have been part of the development of the area.”

However, Ms Rubinstein said since Burger King had set up shop in Tamarindo, there had been telephone threats to the company. Further, the six staff that man the truck, all from Santa Cruz, had also been threatened.

“This is very worrying to our corporation and we have hired a lawyer to deal with this,” she said. “We are in full compliance and have full rights to be there. We have all the required permits.”

Rodrigo Acuña Aguero, of the Ministry of Health in Santa Cruz, confirmed the mobile restaurant had been thoroughly inspected and met all conditions.

“I understand there are people who are uncomfortable with the Burger King truck, but all we are interested in is the physical and sanitary conditions,” he said.

“First, the truck was located on private property; otherwise it would be a case of street selling,” Mr Acuña said. “They then filed a request for a health inspection and they meet all the conditions.

“Refrigeration equipment, ovens, grills…gas tanks must be located away from the public, potable water…the workers in the truck must have completed courses on food manipulation and all have their badges certifying them…the bathrooms must be connected to mechanical systems…

“Those trucks are very well equipped,” Mr Acuña said.

Corporación Alimentos del Rey, S.A., which boasts one of the few US Department of Agriculture-approved meat-processing plants in the country, is understood to have a short-term lease for the Tamarindo land upon which it operates, from owners Grupo Diriá. Ms Rubinstein would not be drawn on how long Burger King might remain.

“I don’t know,” she said in response to questions. “The mobile trucks are in provisional places in many areas —- in Paraíso, Palmares, Jacó, Grecia…

“How long we will remain depends on many issues,” she said. “For the time being we will remain in Tamarindo and have not contemplated moving.”

Jerry Hirsch, President of Tamarindo’s Zoning Committee, said the appearance of Burger King had caught most people by surprise.
“It was raised at one of our meetings,” he said, “but I don’t think it is just the zoning committee, there are a lot of people around town who are upset by their presence.

“It is a shame if there have been threats made, and we would never condone that kind of thing, but I think it shows you how strongly people feel about this issue.”

Part of the Committee’s concern, raised in a meeting this week, is that other fast food outlets are reported to have spotted the business potential in a town growing as fast as Tamarindo.

Roger Aguilar, Operations Manager for Subway Sandwiches, confirmed they were looking into the market in Tamarindo.

“It’s one of the markets where we would most like to enter,” Mr Aguilar said. “We made inquiries about two months ago and did some work. One of the problems we’ve encountered is that the available spaces are few, but we are evaluating the possibility.”

For its part, Burger King came to Costa Rica in 1990 and now has 32 restaurants in the country.

The parent company started as one restaurant in Miami in 1954 and has grown to more than 11,220 restaurants in 61 countries. There are 7,956 outlets in the US, 685 in Britain, 348 in Canada, 342 in Spain, 299 in Australia and one in Iceland.

There are none in France —- in July of 1997 Burger King pulled out after 16 years, closing 39 outlets with the loss of 550 jobs, citing poor market share.