Russian consumers received their first taste of the old McDonald’s under a new local property on Sunday, as the rebranded fast food chain opened 15 restaurants in Moscow weeks after buying operations.
McDonald’s agreed last month to sell its Russian business to Alexander Govor, a local franchisee of the chain in Siberia who has taken over the portfolio of some 850 restaurants.
Renamed Vkusno & Tochka, or “Tasty – Full Stop”, the new owners are expected to open 50 more restaurants on Monday. By the end of June, they aim to reopen 200, Ok Paroyev, chief executive of Vkusno & Tochka, told a news conference on Sunday, Interfax reported.
Not only has the name changed, as the word “Mac” has been removed from the new menu. Vkusno & Tochka intends to make changes to the menu but keep the same taste for the Russians who first met McDonald’s when the group entered the country in 1990.
After initially suspending operations in March, McDonald’s said in May that the invasion of Ukraine meant that it was “no longer sustainable” to operate in Russia. The Chicago-based company had spent about $ 55 million a month on rents and salaries of its 62,000 Russian employees before selling the operations.
Govor must keep staff and their current labor agreements intact for at least two years, according to Russian media reports. Govor has said the rebranded business is expected to expand to 1,000 restaurants in the next five to six years.
A little-known businessman from Novokuznetsk, a metal and coal-producing city in western Siberia, Govor ran 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, it diversified into food and agriculture, according to reports. He founded Sibirskaya Milyona, a food producer that owns several cattle farms, dairy plants, a sausage factory and a restaurant.
What was once the Russian website of the U.S. fast food chain has removed all references to McDonald’s and now redirects to the website skoro-tut-budut-burgers.ru, which translates as “soon there will be burgers here.ru “.
Paroyev, who was appointed head of Russian operations at McDonald’s shortly before Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine in late February, said the new owners intend to minimize any changes for customers.
A Vkusno & Tochka employee delivers a food order © AFP via Getty Images
However, the restaurant’s logo has been replaced by a small red burger with two tiled chips.
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 left Russia increasingly isolated from the west.
When it launched in Moscow in January 1990, more than 30,000 people lined up to buy a burger. His withdrawal from Russia was the first of a major market and left the US group with an ineffective charge of up to $ 1.4 billion.