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[Dorsidwarf]

Why would they cut down an ancient forest

It's for making antique furniture

[Culise]

Well, that is what they call old-growth tropical hardwood forests, after all: An-teak. 
^{Blame whoever made this the EU terrible jokes thread. ^_^}

[ChairmanPoo]

Well, that is what they call old-growth tropical hardwood forests, after all: An-teak. 
^{Blame whoever made this the EU terrible jokes thread. ^_^}

Take this guy out and sacrifice him to R'llor

[martinuzz]

New York Pizza hit a hurdle in Amsterdam, when a judge ruled today that, despite having tables and chairs to serve 40 people in-house, New York Pizza is not a restaurant, but a fast food chain. This means that they are not allowed to open a planned new business in one of Amsterdam's popular districts, 'de Pijp'. City planning does allow for a restaurant there, but not for another fast food business.

The judge used our official national dictionary, the 'van Dale', for the verdict. He looked up the definition of the word 'fast food', which is 'food that requires no time, or very little time to prepare'. The judge concluded that that description fits NYP, and thus the city council was in it's right to refuse the new business location, for fast food business are regarded as a source of noise and smell pollution for city planning purposes (while restaurants aren't, or at least not in the same category of severity).

New Yor Pizza is surprised at the verdict and will appeal to the Raad van State. Spokesperson Alice Theunissen says: "If the Raad van State confirms this verdict, a lot will change in the sector.
There are many more types of restaurants that have similar short preparation times as pizza. Think of pancake restaurants, and sushi bars. All those companies would suddenly be reclassified as fast food, based on this jurisprudence".

[Egan_BW]

Yeah, I gotta admit it seems a bit dumb to count something as fast food for city planning purposes just because the food is served quickly. Surely someone can come up with a more specific definition?

[Dorsidwarf]

Why does the amount of seating factor in? Mcdonalds always have dozens of inhouse seating and nobody would argue they arent fast food

[Antioch]

But an Italian pizzeria on the exact same spot would be fine?

[smjjames]

Sounds sort of like they just don't want 'Yet Another American Company'.

[Criptfeind]

Maybe the judge just thinks that deep dish is the only real pizza.

[Frumple]

When your definition of "fast food" is "food that it is served fast", then I think you've fucked up somewhere.

Not... really? Though it looked more like prepared fast than served fast, in that case. Still, quick food is pretty core to fast food, hence the term.

Ain't nothin' really stopping a fast food joint from being able to seat a buncha' folks. They just generally don't 'cause their throughput's fast enough it ain't worth having.

Don't think I've been to that particular pizza joint before (which, considering the name, isn't exactly a surprise), though. Maybe it is a source of noise and smell pollution more in line with a fast food joint than a restaurant? Some pizza places largely are, though a lotta' restaurants are worse on the latter than most fast food places, heh.

[scriver]

I'd say the speed of serving customers would be what matters. Particularly, but not limited to, whether or not they do take-away/take-out/whatever it's called.

Maybe the judge just thinks that deep dish is the only real pizza.

Europe don't do deep dish "pizza". If you served somebody from here that disgusting mass of fat and lard and call it pizza they'd call you crazy.

You could get away with calling it a pie, probably, since that is pretty much what it is.

[Frumple]

If calling it a pie is what gets you more kinds of delicious pizza, then I don't think I'd care.

[scriver]

Well you wouldn't get more kinds of pizza, because it wouldn't be a pizza, it would be a pie. You'd get more kinds of (supposedly) delicious pie. Your amount of delicious pizza would still be the same.

[smjjames]

Going the other direction, do you have thin crust Pizza in Europe or do you consider that heresy?

[martinuzz]

When your definition of "fast food" is "food that it is served fast", then I think you've fucked up somewhere.

Not... really? Though it looked more like prepared fast than served fast, in that case. Still, quick food is pretty core to fast food, hence the term.

Ain't nothin' really stopping a fast food joint from being able to seat a buncha' folks. They just generally don't 'cause their throughput's fast enough it ain't worth having.

Don't think I've been to that particular pizza joint before (which, considering the name, isn't exactly a surprise), though. Maybe it is a source of noise and smell pollution more in line with a fast food joint than a restaurant? Some pizza places largely are, though a lotta' restaurants are worse on the latter than most fast food places, heh.

What, you've never heard of New York Pizza? That's like the McDonalds of Pizza, they're everywhere.
Yet no, it was not a judge 'not wanting another US company', it was a judge not wanting another fast food joint in Amsterdam, that is already overcrowded with food and drink stalls, being a tourist hotspot. It's not like New York Pizza doesn't already have a handful of business in Amsterdam. Hell, even my town has 2 or three of them. And a handful of Dominos.

And tbh, I kinda agree with NYP (and Dominos etc etc) being fast food and not restaurants. They don't have a kitchen, or cooks, they just have prefab pizzas and underpaid students.
That being said, I do sometimes order a pizza at NYP. The quality of their prefab pizzas isn't that terrible. Although their so called 'Italian bottom' does not get close to what Italian pizza dough looks and tastes like.