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The US fast-food big introduced on Might 16 that it could exit Russia within the wake of its Ukraine offensive. In Moscow’s Pushkin Sq. on Sunday, dozens of individuals gathered exterior the Russian incarnation of the fast-food restaurant, “Vkusno i tochka” (“Scrumptious. Full Cease”), effectively earlier than the official midday (0900 GMT) opening.
“My entire household went… 3 times to McDonald’s for a farewell meal,” Elena, a programmer and mom of two, instructed AFP. “Now we’re going for a reunion lunch,” she smiled.
Inside, 31-year-old Oleg, one of many first clients to obtain his order, stated “Vkusno i tochka” was “scrumptious, stunning and low-cost.”
The restaurant, on the spot the place the very first McDonald’s opened its doorways to lengthy queues and nice fanfare in January 1990, is among the many first 15 to welcome clients. On Monday, one other 50 eating places are set to open, in accordance with Oleg Paroyev, basic supervisor of the brand new group, with the chain then planning to reopen 50 to 100 every week throughout the nation.
Rather than the Golden Arches, there is a new emblem – two stylized orange fries alongside a purple dot on a inexperienced background. There are nonetheless double cheeseburgers on the menu, in addition to a variety of ice lotions and desserts. However the “Mc” prefix now not seems.
“We needed to take away some merchandise from the menu as a result of they refer on to McDonald’s, such because the McFlurry and Massive Mac,” Paroyev stated. Costs have risen “barely” because of the inflation that has hit Russia arduous after Western nations imposed sanctions — however they continue to be “affordable”, he added.
As for the packaging, it’s “impartial” — “no phrase, no letter” ought to remind clients of the McDonald’s group, Paroyev stated. McDonald’s Russian eating places had accounted for round 9 % of the U.S. group’s turnover.
Three days after the corporate introduced its exit in Might, Russian businessman Alexander Govor, who had been a licensee of the chain, purchased the 850-restaurant operation. “I’m bold and I do not solely plan to open the 850 eating places however to develop new ones,” Govor stated on Sunday.
Beneath the sale situations, Govor agreed to retain staff for at the least two years and fund liabilities to suppliers, landlords and utilities, McDonald’s stated. The value of the transaction was not disclosed however in asserting its exit, McDonald’s stated it deliberate to take a one-time cost of $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion to put in writing off the funding.
McDonald’s had employed 62,000 employees in Russia. Govor, a licensee since 2015, has operated 25 eating places in Siberia. He’s co-founder of NefteKhimService, a refining firm, and a board member of a agency that owns the Park Inn resort and personal clinics in Siberia.
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