Russian consumers got their first taste of the former McDonald’s under new local ownership on Sunday, as the rebranded fast food chain opened 15 restaurants in Moscow weeks after buying the business.
McDonald’s agreed last month to sell its Russian business to Alexander Govor, a local franchisee in the Siberian chain, which has taken over a portfolio of about 850 restaurants.
Rebranded as Vkusno & Tochka, or “Delicious – Full Stop”, the new owners are expected to open another 50 restaurants on Monday. By the end of June, they are aiming to reopen 200, Oleg Paroev, chief executive of Vkusno i Tochka, told a news conference on Sunday, Interfax reported.
Not only has the name changed, but the word “Mac” has been removed from the new menu. Vkusno & Tochka intend to make changes to the menu, but keep the taste for the Russians, who first met McDonald’s when the band entered the country in 1990.
After initially shutting down in March, McDonald’s said in May that the invasion of Ukraine meant it “could no longer work” in Russia. The Chicago-based company spent about $ 55 million a month on rent and salaries for its 62,000 Russian employees before selling the business.
According to Russian media reports, Govor is obliged to keep its staff and current employment contracts intact for at least two years. Speech said the rebranded business expects to expand to 1,000 restaurants over the next five to six years.
A little-known businessman from Novokuznetsk, a city of metals and coal in Western Siberia, Govor manages McDonald’s restaurants in Western and Eastern Siberia through his company GiD, according to Russian media reports.
After making a fortune in the coal business in the 2000s, he diversified into food and agriculture, the reports said. He founded Sibirskaya Milyona, a food producer who owned several livestock farms, dairies, a sausage factory and a restaurant.
What was once the Russian website of the fast food chain in the United States, removed all links to McDonald’s and now redirects to the website skoro-tut-budut-burgers.ru, which translates as “there will soon be burgers.ru”
Paroev, who was reportedly appointed head of McDonald’s operations shortly before Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine in late February, said the new owners intend to minimize any changes for customers.
An employee of Vkusno & Tochka delivers a food order © AFP via Getty Images
However, the restaurant’s logo has been changed to a small red burger with two fried potatoes.
Although dozens of Western consumer brands have announced plans to leave Russia, McDonald’s decision to do so was one of the most symbolic, as the invasion has left Russia increasingly isolated from the West.
When it started in Moscow in January 1990, more than 30,000 people lined up to buy a burger. His withdrawal from Russia was his first from the big market and left the US group with a non-monetary fee of as much as $ 1.4 billion.
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