The French subsidiary is the operators' legal counterparty: it is the one that concludes the franchise agreements and the lease-management agreements, that invoices the fees and the rent, and that serves the orders to pay.
Its history begins with a dispute. In 1972, the French licence was entrusted to Raymond Dayan, who opened in Créteil; ten years later, the group obtained from an Illinois court the termination of his licence for failure to meet quality standards. Dayan lost the right to use the name, and McDonald's took over development directly.
The proceedings of the 1990s between the subsidiary and its franchisees — including the Antibes case — took place before the Paris Commercial Court, by virtue of the jurisdiction clauses in the agreements.