Russia’s McDonald’s reopens beneath new identify, modified menu

The restaurant that launched McDonald’s in Russia in 1990, heralding Moscow’s opening after many years of Soviet rule, reopened Sunday with a brand new identify and brand in a potent reminder of the upheaval sparked by the battle in Ukraine.

The US fast-food large introduced on May 16 that it could exit Russia within the wake of its Ukraine offensive. In Moscow’s Pushkin Square on Sunday, dozens of individuals gathered exterior the Russian incarnation of the fast-food restaurant, “Vkusno i tochka” (“Delicious. Full Stop”), effectively earlier than the official midday (0900 GMT) opening.

“My whole family went… three times to McDonald’s for a farewell meal,” Elena, a programmer and mom of two, instructed AFP. “Now we’re going for a reunion lunch,” she smiled.

Inside, 31-year-old Oleg, one of many first clients to obtain his order, stated “Vkusno i tochka” was “delicious, beautiful and cheap.”

The restaurant, on the spot the place the very first McDonald’s opened its doorways to lengthy queues and nice fanfare in January 1990, is among the many first 15 to welcome clients. On Monday, one other 50 eating places are set to open, in accordance with Oleg Paroyev, basic supervisor of the brand new group, with the chain then planning to reopen 50 to 100 per week throughout the nation.

In place of the Golden Arches, there is a new brand – two stylised orange fries alongside a purple dot on a inexperienced background. There are nonetheless double cheeseburgers on the menu, in addition to a variety of ice lotions and desserts. But the “Mc” prefix now not seems.

Also learn: Russia attracts nearer to seize of Ukraine’s Donbas area

“We had to remove some products from the menu because they refer directly to McDonald’s, such as the McFlurry and Big Mac,” Paroyev stated. Prices have risen “slightly” because of the inflation that has hit Russia onerous after Western international locations imposed sanctions — however they continue to be “reasonable”, he added.

As for the packaging, it’s “neutral” — “no word, no letter” ought to remind clients of the McDonald’s group, Paroyev stated. McDonald’s Russian eating places had accounted for round 9 % of the US group’s turnover.

Three days after the corporate introduced its exit in May, Russian businessman Alexander Govor, who had been a licensee of the chain, purchased the 850-restaurant operation. “I am ambitious and I don’t only plan to open the 850 restaurants but to develop new ones,” Govor stated on Sunday.

Under the sale circumstances, Govor agreed to retain staff for no less than two years and fund liabilities to suppliers, landlords and utilities, McDonald’s stated. The worth of the transaction was not disclosed however in saying its exit, McDonald’s stated it deliberate to take a one-time cost of $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion to put in writing off the funding.

McDonald’s had employed 62,000 employees in Russia. Govor, a licensee since 2015, has operated 25 eating places in Siberia. He is co-founder of NefteKhimService, a refining firm, and a board member of a agency that owns the Park Inn lodge and personal clinics in Siberia.