LONDON, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - McDonald's launched a campaign on Wednesday to recruit 4,000 staff in Britain to satisfy the demand from cash-strapped customers flocking to its restaurants as the credit crunch bites hard.

As the rest of the British economy hits turbulent times, the fast food giant said it was serving an extra two million meals a month compared with this time last year.

Many cash-strapped Britons are finding their budgets stretched by rocketing fuel bills, surging food prices and higher home loan repayments, so are turning to cheap fast food to fill the gap.

'I believe there's a new reality,' said Steve Easterbrook, chief executive of McDonald's in the United Kingdom.

'Families still want to eat out but clearly they have a less money in their pockets and are searching for value.'

The group's 1,200 restaurants in Britain, employing 67,000 staff, recorded a 10-percent increase in sales over the first half of the year and May was the group's second-busiest month on record.

The recruitment campaign will employ the 'Not Bad for a McJob' slogan in a bid to re-brand the McJob, which has been used by social commentators as a derogatory term to describe low-paid jobs for unskilled workers.