For those who pine for Muldoon-era controls and think Roger Douglas some kind of devil for having broken the old system, here's one snippet courtesy of the National Business Review: how McDonald's imported the kitchen for its first restaurant:
By then McDonald’s was already a major corporation and imposing its strict protocols and standards – contained in a hefty manual – on laid-back Kiwis was no small challenge. Nor was New Zealand’s economic environment, with tight regulations, compulsory unionism and licensed protectionism against anything from overseas, such as a McDonald’s kitchen, furniture, soda fountain or uniforms.The wonderful things that happen under currency and capital controls.
Cheese swap deal
Importation of the kitchen was permitted for a year but Wally Morris ordered it be cemented into the floor, preventing its removal. He later got around the restriction by arranging a deal through cabinet minister Lance Adams-Schneider whereby a stock of unsold Dairy Board cheese in Germany was bought by McDonald’s in the US, clearing the way for two more kitchens to be imported.
