Three months after McDonald's suspended operations in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of people flocked to its once-famous outlet on Moscow's Pushkin Square, which reopened on Sunday with a Russian owner and a new name.
McDonald's suspended operations of its company-run restaurants in Russia in March.
Although some franchise-run ones remained open, the move by the multinational fast-food chain was one of the most visible responses by foreign companies to Russia sending troops to Ukraine.
Two months later, McDonald's decided to leave Russia entirely and sold its 850 restaurants to Alexander Govor, who had licenses for 25 franchises in Siberia.
Staff members wait for visitors at a newly opened fast food restaurant in a former McDonald's location on Bolshaya Bronnaya Street in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, June 12, 2022.Dmitry Serebryakov/AP
Govor is moving quickly to reopen closed establishments.
It wasn't until a couple of hours before the Pushkin Square restaurant opened that the Russian chain's new name was announced:
Vkusno-i Tochka
(Tasty Period).
The logo is different, but
still evokes the golden arches:
a circle and two yellow oblongs - representing a beef burger and fries - configured in a stylized M.
Fifteen of the old McDonald's were to reopen on Sunday in Moscow.
Oleg Paroev, general director of the chain, assured that his goal is to have 200 open by the end of the month.
As part of the sale agreement, the monetary terms of which were not announced, the new operation agreed
to retain the 62,000 people employed by McDonald's
before its departure.
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The influx of people to the establishment in Pushkin Square, as large and lively as it was, was not comparable to that of the opening of McDonald's in 1990, when people queued for hours.
At that time, McDonald's had a psychological and political resonance that went beyond the hamburgers.
The opening was the first taste most Muscovites had of consumerism and the efficiency of Western services, as well as a sign that the Soviet Union was slowly letting down its guard and allowing foreign culture into the country.
On Sunday, that earlier symbolism resonated at the reopening with a nostalgic note.
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"This is a landmark location, the flagship for McDonald's," Govor told reporters, "I'm sure it will be the flagship for us."
Inside, the restaurant looked like a fraternal twin of its former self.
There were touch screens for ordering and counter workers in the familiar polo shirt uniforms.
"We are sure that our customers will not notice the difference
," said Paroev.
However, he noted, the company will look for a new supplier of soft drinks, since its stock of Coca-Cola is limited.