Mykonos is not lovin’ it: How a Greek island is divided over McDonald’s

Mykonos is a fascinating island full of paradoxes. Many international visitors flock to the island, but many Greeks can’t even afford to visit. It’s the island that international visitors love because it’s so authentic, Greek and luxurious, and Greeks hate it for being overcrowded with tourists, expensive and tacky. It’s the island where wealthy celebrities can party, and broke people can only see the pictures on social media. It’s the island that is connected to the world yet disconnected from Greece to the extent that, in some respects, Mykonos operates like an independent country. It’s the island with its windmills, and white houses with blue doors and windows that represent Greece internationally, alongside another popular tourist attraction, the island of Santorini. Yet in Greece, Mykonos is often seen as an anomaly. It’s the island that is cosmopolitan yet parochial at the same time. While Mykonos’s native population is just over 10.000, over 2 million people visit Mykonos every year, mostly from abroad. The McDonald’s controversy is just the most recent of many Mykonos paradoxes.

A planned McDonald’s in Mykonos has sparked legal and symbolic controversy over whether such a fast-food restaurant is compatible with the island’s protected status and tourism identity.

Businessman Florios Asimomitis applied in early December 2025 for a license via the OpenBusiness platform for a “restaurant–café” in the Alefkandra area of Chora, below the windmills. The municipality forwarded the request to the building department and the archaeological authorities, as Mykonos is subject to strict protections (archaeological site, protected settlement, traditional settlement).

After the 15-day legal deadline passed without objections, Mayor Christos Veronis issued a certificate on 24 December 2025, stipulating compliance with special decrees that apply to Chora. Later, social media posts revealed that the venue would be a McDonald’s—a fact not evident from the company name or application—prompting the municipality to request a new review.

The planning authority then pointed to a 1995 law governing Mykonos Town, which allows restaurants and refreshment venues but explicitly bans fast-food establishments in that area. Because the coordinates in the original application were incorrect, the authority said it could not confirm whether the installation was permitted. On January 21, the municipality revoked the earlier certificate due to the inaccurate data.

The company resubmitted its request on January 26, claiming that the coordinate error was a technical issue with the platform rather than an intentional misrepresentation.

Mayor Veronis notes that McDonald’s was denied a license in 2015 for the same legal reason, and that a Goody’s fast-food restaurant currently operates about 1 km outside the settlement. He argues that granting a new license within Chora would violate the existing decree and damage the character of the settlement.

Asimomitis insists the store fully complies with the law, arguing that McDonald’s now operates as a table-service restaurant, which is why the application was for a restaurant license rather than a fast-food outlet. He points out that Mykonos already has souvlaki and burger venues licensed as restaurants, despite the formal ban on fast food, and contends that rejecting McDonald’s simply because it is an American chain is discriminatory. He maintains that Mykonos needs both quick, affordable food and high-end dining, and promises that the store will visually conform to Mykonos aesthetics, with no giant “M” or glaring signage.

Public debate on the island is intense, especially on social media, with locals sharply divided over the prospect of a McDonald’s.

Hospitality entrepreneur Vangelis Pelekis argues that, although Mykonos is heavily built up, it still retains its human scale and high-quality tourism services. For him, the issue is not foreign chains per se—of which the island already has many—but mass-market concepts that make Mykonos look like any generic destination. He also considers the intense focus on McDonald’s somewhat hypocritical, given the number of similar venues that “pass through” the island, and believes the real damage comes from large strategic investments that transform the landscape and, in his view, should be banned throughout the Cyclades.

McDonald's answer about the restaurant in Mykonos.

Vladimir Janevski, CEO of Premier Capital Hellas, the McDonald’s licensee in Greece, stated that the company has fully complied with Greek legal procedures for licensing a McDonald’s restaurant in Mykonos and is cooperating with the authorities to resolve administrative issues that arose during the approval process.

“Premier Capital has identified a potential location in Mykonos, integrating the island into its broader strategy to establish a presence in areas with high tourist traffic,” Janevski said.

Will the idea of a McDonald’s in Mykonos ever become a reality, or will it remain a distant dream or nightmare?