The Battle for Northernmost McDonald's
Three countries vying for McArctic supremacy
ROVANIEMI, Finland—Located at the edge of the Arctic Circle near the Santa Claus Village that draws more than a half million visitors a year, the McDonald’s in Rovaniemi, Finland opened in December 1997 to great fanfare. “Since this restaurant is the closest to the North Pole, we hope this will become Santa’s favorite neighborhood restaurant,” said then-McDonald’s CEO Jim Cantalupo at the opening of the chain’s northernmost outpost.
There was no reason to believe that the title would ever be at risk, at least not from its neighbor next door: The Golden Arches had only arrived in Russia in 1990, and for the next decade the company moved slowly, building a foothold in the nascent market with stores in major cities like St. Petersburg and Moscow. But by 2013, there were almost 400 McDonald’s restaurants in the country, including a newly opened one in the Arctic port city of Murmansk, two degrees further north than Rovaniemi. Plaques were installed to commemorate the new northernmost McDonald’s.
After McDonald’s withdrew from the Russian market at the start of the conflict with Ukraine in 2022, all 800 stores in the country were “de-arched” and sold to a Siberian franchisee, who rebranded the restaurants Вкусно – и точка, “Tasty, period.” That included the store in Murmansk, which meant that the title of northernmost McDonald’s reverted back to our Finnish friends in Rovaniemi.
To be clear, neither of these stores have some spectacular design element, but when you’re going around the world documenting the reaches of American fast food, proximity to the Arctic circle is notable. Nevertheless, you really only want to do certain far-flung trips once: New Zealand, a 17-hour flight away from New York, required a second visit after a discontinued iconic burger became available again for a limited time, and my body was not happy. With an entire country knocked out of the running for the foreseeable future, and the Nordic region controlled by the same master franchisee, it seemed like a safe time to make the run to Rovaniemi.
The vast majority of the visitors were tourists passing through for the Santa Claus Village, so observation of local habits was minimal. But the store was in its peak winter form: dressed up with Christmas decorations and bombarded with enough snow that construction equipment was required to clear out a path for the drive-thru. There were other fun visual details: the Happy Meal box bird feeder in nearby trees, posters featuring the Northern Lights declaring “Welcome to the northernmost McDonald’s in the World” and postcards that customers could send to friends back home.
With a large cache of photos (and postcards!) in hand, I’d never have to endure sub-zero temperatures and perpetual winter darkness to document a northernmost McDonald’s ever again. Or so I thought.
In March, I learned that a new Northernmost McDonald’s in the World had opened in Tromsø, Norway. Not only that, but the Norwegian franchisees announced their intent to open several more Arctic stores, which kept me in a holding pattern.
There was a workaround, however: the Tromsø store, which was nowhere near as charming as the one in Finland based on images posted on social media by the first visitors, also offered postcards declaring its northernmost status. The photo could come to me. Miraculously, one of the 77,000 people living in this town 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle is related to a friend of mine, and was able to ferry the cards to New York City. My return to the region could wait until the dust settled with the new openings.
As for the Rovaniemi store, postcards are still being distributed, but with a new slogan: The Original Northernmost McDonald’s.
Just another day in the battle for McArctic supremacy.
