but despite its global domination as a cheap and easy burger joint , the fast - food monolith proved no match against the people of bolivia and its cultural standards of culinary decency .
for 14 years , mcdonald 's attempted to court bolivians into making a habit out of eating their processed menu items -- only to experience an overwhelming , nation - wide rejection .
according to a review from hispanically speaking news , the cogs of mcdonald 's international burger - slinging machine have ground to a halt , forcing the company to close its doors in bolivia in 2002 .
so , in light of the loss of revenue , mcdonald 's corporation made an unprecedented announcement : that it would close its restaurants in bolivia -- making it the only country in the americas without a mcdonald 's .
as the hispanically speaking news reports , for well over a decade mcdonald 's , with eight locations in the south american nation of 10 million people , worked to win over the bolivian public with its big macs and mcnuggets , but consistently found itself losing money .
bolivians , mcdonald 's corporate health would suffer at a rate inverse to improvements in our physical health and the health of our planet , which is already so full of people too removed from the food they put inside them .
one might be hard - pressed to find consumers even outside of bolivia who would n't agree with that definition of ' a good meal ' , yet none have expressed it so profoundly by simply choosing not to eat at mcdonalds .
a group of filmakers have attempted to answer that question in the documentary why did mcdonald ’s bolivia go bankrupt ?
to be a good meal , food giant 's bottom line , but it 's difficult not to judge bolivia better off for having rejected a restaurant so often associated with a menu of dubious nutritional value and less - than eco - friendly business practices .