McDonald's successor reopens in Russia after U.S. giant withdrawal
McDonald's has reopened its doors in Russia under the new name Vkusno - i tochka, three months after the U.S. fast-food chain ended its business in Russia.
The successor to McDonald's in Russia reopened the first batch of 15 restaurants in Moscow and its suburbs on Sunday. The rebranded fast-food network will use new names on the menu and retain all employees under equivalent terms for at least two years.
Oleg Paroev, general director of the company, announced the new brand meaning "Delicious - and that's it," during a ceremony at the restaurant in downtown Moscow's Pushkinskaya Square, the first McDonald's restaurant in the Soviet Union that opened in 1990.
The original McDonald's logo was changed to a red circle and two orange lines to represent a burger and two French fries.
Another 50 outlets will be reopened on Monday, and roughly 200 outlets are expected to reopen by the end of June. All of McDonald's former 850 restaurants across Russia are expected to reopen by the end of summer, according to Paroev.
Alexander Gower, a McDonald's franchisee in Russia, is taking over the chain's 850 restaurants and he and his partners plan to open more stores every week, and will open 1,000 stores in the next five to six years.
"We will open 50 more restaurants on Monday and there will be 200 ones by the end of June. Then every week we will open 50 to 100 more restaurants across the country," said Paroev.
The menu displayed on the restaurant's ordering screen is basically the same as before. The person in charge of the restaurant said that 98 percent of the raw materials used are produced in Russia and the equipment is basically replaced by products of Russian local enterprises.
In addition to raw materials and equipment, McDonald's employees continue to work at the company. Gower said more than 160,000 jobs would be linked to the chain.
"We'll be working here in the future, that's for sure. The restaurant will also operate normally," said Lilia, one of the employees.
"What worked before will work as usual. Nothing's going to change," said another employee Alexander.
Many Moscow residents rushed to enjoy the long-waited delicacy as a long queue was seen in front of the door.
"We're so happy about the reopening with menu basically unchanged. Although some varieties are missing, it doesn’t matter as what really matters is that that it tastes good," said a customer.
McDonald's suspended its business in Russia on March 14. The company announced its withdrawal from Russia on May 16 and three days later sold the assets to Russian businessman Alexander Govor, a former McDonald's licensee.
