More than three decades after the arrival of the hugely popular Western fast-food chain, former McDonald’s Corp restaurants reopened under new branding and ownership over the weekend.
The relaunch began on Russia Day, a patriotic holiday celebrating the country’s independence, at the same flagship location in Moscow’s Pushkin Square where McDonald’s first opened in Russia in January 1990.
In the early 1990s, as the Soviet Union crumbled, McDonald’s came to embody a thawing of Cold War tensions and was a vehicle for millions of Russians to sample American food and culture. The brand’s exit is now a powerful symbol of how Russia and the West are once again turning their backs on each other.
A banner with the logo of the new restaurant chain (consisting of two fries and a burger bun) will replace the McDonald’s golden arches after the US company sold its restaurants in Russia to one of its local licensees, Alexander Govor.
Last month, McDonald’s said it was selling its restaurants in Russia. The deal marked one of the most high-profile business departures since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24.
McDonald’s had owned 84 percent of its nearly 850 restaurants across Russia and it took a charge of up to US$1.4 billion following the sale to Govor, whose GiD LLC had previously run 25 restaurants.
The new owner of the chain, said the company employs 51,000 people.
“The corporation asked me to, first of all, keep the headcount, to provide people with work. That’s what I’m going to do.”
Oleg Paroev, chief executive of Vkusno & Tochka, (and the previous CEO of McDonald’s Russia) said the company was planning to reopen 200 restaurants by the end of June and all 850 by the end of the summer.
The rebranded fast-food chain will keep its old McDonald’s interior but will expunge any references to its old name. He said the company would keep “affordable prices” but did not rule out that they would go up slightly in the near term.
