Fifteen renamed restaurants opened in the capital on Sunday after the US-based burger giant withdrew due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The reopening of the stores is believed to be a test of whether Russia’s economy can become more self-sufficient and withstand Western sanctions. Others, however, see the move as another step toward isolating Russia from the rest of the world. Vkusno i tochka general manager Oleg Paroyev said that although the restaurants no longer serve McDonald’s dishes, customers can enjoy the food. “Some products will no longer be on our menus, such as the Big Mac or McFlury,” he explained. “This is because these brands, their appearance and their construction have a very direct relationship with the McDonald’s brand,” Paryoev said, “but I want to promise that in the very near future we will have a worthy replacement for them. which I’m sure our consumers will like. “ The Vkusno i tochka branches will retain the former McDonald’s interior, but will remove any references to its old name. The owners of the chain say that their goal was to keep people busy and working. The company currently employs 51,000 people.
McDonald’s left Russia for “unnecessary human suffering”
McDonald’s was the first major Western fast food chain to open a restaurant in the Soviet Union, following a summit between Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan that led to the USSR ‘s joint venture license in 1987. The burger chain opened its first restaurant in the Soviet capital in January 1990 – a joint venture between McDonald’s Canada and the Moscow City Council – beating its competitor Pizza Hut by several months. The restaurant – the largest McDonald’s in the world at the time – did not close until early March, banning the closure in 2014. The closure of 2014 for “health and safety violations” was seen as retaliation for US sanctions against the Kremlin for annexing the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and participating in the war in the eastern Donbas region. The restaurant, however, reopened after 90 days. McDonald’s initially suspended operations in Russia in the early days of the invasion. In May, the company decided to leave Russia altogether, selling its 850 restaurants to Alexander Govor, who had licenses for 25 franchises in Siberia. Govor, a businessman and billionaire who made his fortune in the energy, hospitality and healthcare sectors, is moving fast to reopen closed stores. In an open letter to employees March 7, McDonald’s president and CEO Chris Kempckinski said the closure of the restaurants was the right thing to do. “Our values mean that we can not ignore the unnecessary human suffering unfolding in Ukraine,” Kempczinski said. The company also pledged to continue paying its 62,000 employees in Russia in March, before Govor’s acquisition included assurances that the new company would retain employees.
