Madonal

MaDonal in Iraq

Not to be confused with McDonald's.

MaDonal is a restaurant operating in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan which is a facsimile of a McDonald's restaurant resembling it in both design and menu items. For example, they offer "Big Macks". It is one of the two McDonald's facsimiles in the town, the other being Matbax. Suleiman Qassab was a fighter in the Kurdish resistance and became a refugee in Austria, where he was a cook. He applied for a permit to create a McDonald's in Iraq, but was turned down due to economic sanctions placed during the regime of Saddam Hussein. MaDonal is a successful business, and it has offered free food to U.S. forces. Qassab hopes one day to turn it into an actual McDonald's restaurant. If McDonald's attempts to enter the Iraqi market at some point, this restaurant may be in jeopardy of closure due to trademark infringement.