In 2010, 371 Quick restaurants were operating in France (around
80 percent were franchises) making it the second largest fast-food
company in the nation after the global leader, McDonalds. It controls
about eight percent of the French fast-food market (Swedish
Trade Council, 2009). A significant part of Quick’s marketing
strategy has been to distance itself from McDonalds; perhaps the
biggest step to do this was taken when the corporation introduced
its newest menu item; the halal hamburger. The announcement
incited a contentious discursive dispute that persisted for almost
one year in the media