Tasty name but no Big Mac: Russia opens rebranded McDonald’s restaurants

(Reuters) -It’d look and odor like McDonald’s however now it is Vkusno & tochka. The golden arches are gone, the Filet-O-Fish is just a fish burger. The Massive Mac has left Russia.

A brand new period for Russia’s fast-food and financial scene dawned on Sunday, as McDonald’s eating places flung open their doorways in Moscow underneath new Russian possession and with the brand new identify, which interprets as “Tasty and that is it”.

The revealing of the rebranded retailers, greater than three a long time after the American burger large first opened its doorways in Moscow in a symbolic thaw between East and West, is as soon as once more a stark signal of a brand new world order. The reopenings occurred on Russia Day, a vacation celebrating nationwide satisfaction.

The fortunes of the chain, which McDonald’s bought when it exited the nation over the battle in Ukraine, may present a take a look at of how efficiently Russia’s financial system can develop into extra self-sufficient and face up to Western sanctions.

On Sunday, scores of individuals queued outdoors what was previously McDonald’s flagship restaurant in Pushkin Sq., central Moscow. The outlet sported a brand new brand – a stylised burger with two fries – plus a slogan: “The identify adjustments, love stays”.

The queue was considerably smaller than the hundreds of people that flocked to the unique McDonald’s opening there in 1990 throughout the Soviet period.

“We have to keep away from a drop in high quality, in order that the whole lot stays because it was earlier than, as a result of we cherished McDonald’s,” mentioned IT employee Sardana Donskaya, who queued up 32 years in the past for a primary style of a model that had epitomised Western capitalism and returned on Sunday to usher in its successor.

Vkusno & tochka’s menu was smaller and didn’t supply the Massive Mac and another burgers and desserts, such because the McFlurry. A double cheeseburger was going for 129 roubles ($2.31) in contrast with roughly 160 underneath McDonald’s and a fish burger for 169 roubles, in contrast with about 190 beforehand.

The composition of burgers has not modified and the gear from McDonald’s has remained, mentioned Alexander Merkulov, high quality supervisor on the new firm.

McDonald’s closed its Russian eating places in March and mentioned in mid-Could that it had determined to go away the nation altogether, one of the vital high-profile enterprise departures since Russia despatched tens of hundreds of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

In an indication of the haste the brand new house owners have needed to rebrand in time for the launch, a lot of the packaging for fries and burgers was plain white, as have been drink cups, whereas takeaway baggage have been plain brown. The outdated McDonald’s brand on packets of ketchup and different sauces have been lined over with makeshift black markings.

Sergei, a 15-year-old buyer, noticed little distinction although.

“The style has stayed the identical,” he mentioned as he tucked right into a rooster burger and fries. “The cola is completely different, however there actually isn’t any change to the burger.”

BETTER THAN A BIG MAC?

The flagship Moscow restaurant is amongst 15 rebranded retailers opening in and across the capital on Sunday. Oleg Paroev, CEO of Vkusno & tochka, mentioned the corporate deliberate to reopen 200 eating places in Russia by the tip of June and all 850 by the tip of the summer time. See FACTBOX:

“For 3 months we didn’t work,” mentioned Ruzanna, supervisor of a Moscow department as a result of open in July. “Everybody may be very happy.”

The chain will hold its outdated McDonald’s inside however will expunge any references to its former identify, mentioned Paroev, who was appointed McDonald’s Russia CEO weeks earlier than the Ukraine battle started.

“Our purpose is that our visitors don’t discover a distinction both in high quality or atmosphere,” Paroev advised a information convention within the restaurant.

Siberian businessman Alexander Govor, the brand new proprietor of the enterprise, advised Reuters that it will look to launch one thing just like McDonald’s signature Massive Mac.

“We do not have the fitting to make use of some colors, we do not have the fitting to make use of the golden arches, we do not have the fitting to make use of any point out of McDonald’s,” he advised Reuters.

“The Massive Mac is the story of McDonald’s. We will certainly do one thing comparable,” he mentioned. “We are going to attempt to do one thing even higher in order that our guests and visitors like this dish.”

CEO Paroev added the corporate was searching for new suppliers of soppy drinks because it runs down some shares of Coca Cola, which is suspending its gross sales in Russia. Paroev mentioned all however 2% of the chain’s substances are sourced inside Russia.

Not everybody was impressed.

Moments after the information convention, a person stood up in entrance of the cameras holding an indication that learn “Deliver again the Massive Mac”. He was swiftly escorted out by restaurant workers.

NEW OWNER: I PAID SYMBOLIC SUM

Govor is one in every of many Russians snapping up belongings as a whole lot of Western corporations flee. He mentioned on Sunday that he paid a “symbolic” determine “far decrease than market worth” for McDonald’s Russia. McDonald’s, the world’s largest burger chain, took a cost of as much as $1.4 billion following the sale.

Russian authorities have mentioned the U.S. group has the fitting to purchase again its eating places inside 15 years – although Govor poured chilly water on that chance.

“They made it clear to me that they’d not purchase again,” Interfax quoted him as saying.

McDonald’s, which has mentioned that Govor will retain the chain’s tens of hundreds of staff for not less than two years, was not instantly out there to remark additional in regards to the phrases of the sale or its future Russian intentions.

(Reporting by Reuters; Modifying by Josephine Mason and Pravin Char)