Russia – McDonald’s is also among the companies that have closed their business in Russia due to sanctions imposed due to the Ukraine war. But now once again the people of Russia are enjoying burgers and other food like McDonald’s. On Sunday, 15 McDonald’s restaurants opened with a new brand name. Now the owner of this restaurant chain is Alexander Nikolaevich. The name of the restaurant is Vkusno & Tochka. It means delicious and just delicious.
The new company has said that by the end of June, it will open more than 200 branches across the country. Nikolaevich told reporters that McDonald himself handed over his business to him on his way out. He said- ‘This means that in the opinion of that company, I am the person who understands the principles of its business and the principles of McDonald’s.’ Clearly, Nikolaevich’s motive behind saying this was to send the message that consumers will get the same enjoyment of old dishes in the new form.
The company has told that it has also hired about 62 thousand former employees of McDonald’s company. The new company chose Russia’s National Day to launch the brand. The ceremony took place at Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow. This is where McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in 1990. More than 30 thousand people came to the new restaurants on the first day.
The entry of McDonald’s company into Russia in 1990 was considered a major event. This was seen as the entry of American-style consumerism into the communist Soviet Union. Analysts called it an example of cultural change. The head of the new company’s commerce department, Alexei Alexievich, said: “32 years ago when McDonald’s opened its first restaurant here, Pushkinskaya Square was visited by a large number of people. Then there was a kind of passion to come here. In my opinion, the passion for total restaurants owned by new entrepreneurs is even greater now than that.
As of last March, McDonald’s had about 850 restaurants in Russia. After the Ukraine war, when Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia, this American company decided to close business here. He is said to have sold all his business to the new owner for $1.4 billion. US analysts see the event as the end of a trend that began in 1990.
Dera Goldstein, a professor of Russian affairs at Williams College in Massachusetts, told American TV channel CNN- ‘The opening of McDonald’s in 1990 marked a new beginning in Soviet life. Then people started getting more freedom. Now McDonald’s exit from Russia does not mean just the closure of its business there. Rather it is like going inside the closed rooms of the whole society.