“The name changes, the love stays”: the first “Russian McDonald’s” opened their doors on Sunday under this slogan in the country nostalgic for the American fast food chain, which has left the country because in the conflict in Ukraine.
Vkusno and tochka (Delicious. Season) is the new brand name, announced in Moscow on Sunday in front of a hundred Russian and foreign journalists. The new logo represents two stylish orange fries and a red dot on a green background.
We will try our best so that our customers do not notice any difference, either in terms of the environment, or in terms of taste, or in terms of quality.assured the director general of the chain, Oleg Paroïev.
It’s not going to get any worse, that’s for sure. We will try to make it better than before, added the new owner, businessman Alexandre Govor.
” We hope to at least the number of customers but on the contrary, it will increase. Especially now that it is a fully Russian company. “
Founded over 30 years in Russia, McDonald’s was one of the first windows in the Western world to open for Russians and become anchored in their daily lives and their hearts. Very popular, Russian restaurants account for approximately 9% of the turnover of the American group.
Its decision to suspend the work of 850 restaurants and its 62,000 employees in March, then leave the country precisely in May because of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine launched on February 24, was not well digested by the Russians.
My whole family went … to McDo’s three times for a farewell mealtells Sunday atAFP Elena, programmer and mother of two children.
Today we are going for a reunion lunchhe smiled.
From Sunday morning, before the official opening at 12 pm, dozens of people gathered near the emblematic restaurant of the Russian capital, Pushkin Square, one of the first fifteen restaurants to receive customers.
On Monday, another 50 restaurants are set to open, according to Paroev, with the chain planning to reopen 50 to 100 restaurants a week nationwide.
Same menu
On the menu, the same set as before: cheese and double cheeseburger, a wide range of ice creams and desserts, but Filet-O-Fish is now called Fishburger, Royal Deluxe is made Grand Deluxe and the prefix Hindi that McDo appears by any name.
We were forced to remove some products from the menu because they directly refer to McDonald’s, such as McFlurry and Big Macexplanation by Oleg Paroev.
Prices are there slightly increased due to inflation that has hit Russia hard since the new Western sanctions were imposed in February and March, in the wake of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine, but they remain. reasonable according to the general manager of Vkusno and tochka.
As for the packaging, it is neutral: no words, no letters the McDonald’s group should not be remembered, he explained.
More than 140 million customers in thirty years
The first McDonald’sUSSRPushkin Square, was inaugurated in the very center of Moscow in January 1990, less than two years before the collapse ofUSSRand accepted more than 30,000 customers on opening day – a world record for the chain.
The massive queue in front of the restaurant became legendary.
The most visited McDonald’s restaurant in the world, according to figures from the American group, for 30 years it has accepted more than 140 million customers, equivalent to almost the entire population of Russia.
Alexandre Govor, who has run the American group’s 25 restaurants in Siberia since 2015, bought McDonald’s activities in May.
The co -founder of an oil refining company, Neftekhimservice, has agreed to retain 51,000 direct employees – 11,000 others are employees of franchised restaurants – for at least two years, under conditions equivalent to their former ones.
The 62-year-old businessman from Novokuznetsk (South Siberia), until now unknown to the outside business world, said he had very ambitious projects : We want to reach a thousand the number of our restaurants in five or six years.
France Media Agency
Source: Radio-Canada
