The restaurant that launched McDonald’s in Russia in 1990, canceled the opening of Moscow after the Soviet government decades, reopened on Sundays with new names and logos in a strong reminder of the upheaval triggered by conflict in Ukraine.
The US fast food giant announced on May 16 that they would come out of Russia after the Ukraine attack. At Moscow’s Pushkin Square on Sunday, dozens of people gathered outside of Russian incarnation from fast food restaurants, “vkusno I tochka” (“delicious. Full stop”), long before the official opening of the afternoon (0900 GMT).
My whole family left … three times to McDonald’s to eat farewell,” Elena, a programmer and mother of two children, told AFP. “Now we will have a reunion lunch,” he smiled.
Inside, 31 years old, one of the first customers to receive his order, said “Vkusno I Tochka” is “Delicious, Beautiful and Cheap.”
The restaurant, in the place where McDonald’s first opened the door for a long queue and great hubbub in January 1990, was one of the first to welcome customers. On Monday, 50 other restaurants will be opened, according to Oleg Paroyev, a new group manager, with a chain then plans to reopen 50 to 100 a week throughout the country.
In the golden curve, there is a new logo – two french fries with a red point with a green background. There are still double cheese burgers in the menu, as well as various ice cream and desserts. But the prefix MC” no longer appears.We have to delete some products from the menu because they refer directly to McDonald’s, such as McFlurry and Big Mac, “said Paroyev. Prices have risen” a little “because of inflation that has hit Russia after Western countries imposed sanctions – but they still” made sense “, He added.
As for the packaging, it is “neutral” – “there is no word, there is no letter” that must remind customers to the McDonald’s group, Paroyev said. McDonald’s Russian restaurant has contributed about nine percent of the US group turnover.
Three days after the company announced the exit in May, Russian businessman Alexander Govor, who had become a chain license holder, bought an 850-restaurant operation. “I am ambitious and I not only plan to open 850 restaurants but to develop new ones,” Govor said on Sunday.
In sales conditions, Govor agreed to defend employees for at least two years and the obligation to fund to suppliers, landlords, and utilities, said McDonald’s. The transaction price was not disclosed but in announcing the exit, McDonald’s said that his party planned to take one -time $ 1.2 billion to $ 1.4 billion to remove investments.
McDonald’s has employed 62,000 workers in Russia. Govor, a licenseholder since 2015, has operated 25 restaurants in Siberia. He is one of the founders of refining companies, and members of the Company Council who have Park Inn Hotel and Private Clinics in Siberi
