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Agence France-Presse

Reuters

Former McDonald’s restaurants in Russia have been renamed, the new owner said ahead of their grand reopening on Sunday.
“The new name is Vkusno i tochka,” Oleg Paroyev, the director general of the new group, told a press conference in Moscow.
Reuters translated the name to ‘Tasty and that’s it” while Agence France-Presse said it meant “Delicious. Full Stop”.
Replete with a new logo to replace the Golden Arches, the restaurant on Moscow’s Pushkin Square, where the very first McDonald’s opened its doors to long queues and great fanfare in January 1990, was due to open its doors again at noon (0900 GMT).
The US McDonald’s fast-food giant announced on May 16 that it would exit Russia in the wake of Moscow’s Ukraine offensive.
Three days later, Russian businessman Alexander Govor, who had been a licensee of the chain, bought the 850-restaurant operation.

“I am very proud of the honour that developing this enterprise has given me,” Govor said on Sunday. “I am ambitious and I don’t only plan to open the 850 restaurants but to develop new ones.”
Under the sale conditions, Govor agreed to retain employees for at least two years and fund exiting liabilities to suppliers, landlords and utilities, McDonald’s said.
The new, post-war dawn for Russia’s fast-food scene will initially see 15 rebranded restaurants open in and around the capital after the US fast-food king turned its back on the country for ethical reasons over the invasion of Ukraine.
The reopening of the outlets could provide a test of how successfully Russia’s economy can become more self-sufficient and withstand Western sanctions.

The price of the transaction was not disclosed but in announcing its exit, McDonald’s said it planned to take a one-time charge of US$1.2 billion to US$1.4 billion to write off the investment.
McDonald’s had employed 62,000 workers in Russia.
Govor, a licensee since 2015, has operated 25 restaurants in Siberia. He is co-founder of Neftekhimservice, a refining company, and a board member of a firm that owns the Park Inn hotel and private clinics in Siberia.
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Oleg Paroev, appointed Russia McDonald’s boss in February, weeks before Putin invaded Ukraine, said the company was planning to reopen 200 restaurants by the end of June and all 850 by the end of the summer.
“Our goal is that our guests do not notice a difference either in quality or ambience,” he said.
The rebranded fast-food chain will keep its old McDonald’s interior but will expunge any references to its old name, he added.
Paroev said the company would keep “affordable prices” but did not rule out that they would go up slightly in the near term.


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The US McDonald’s fast-food giant announced on May 16 that it would leave Russia in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine
Three days later, Russian businessman Alexander Govor bought the 850-restaurant operation; some, with same interior, new logo, reopen on Sunday



Businessman Alexander Govor bought the 850-restaurant operation last month after the US fast food giant decided to leave Russia following Moscow’s invasion; some venues, with same interior but new logo, reopen Sunday.


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