Russia Day will be celebrated with the opening of a former American restaurant

A new “restaurant” will open on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow on the site of the former American fast food outlet McDonald's. In total, 15 burger joints will resume work under the new brand in the capital, and 200 across Russia.

McDonald's announced its exit from the country in early March, but did not lay off staff or break leases. It cost the company $27 million. Another 100 million had to be written off in already purchased products. However, at train stations and airports in Moscow and St. Petersburg, eateries will continue to operate as franchises until 2023.

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Two months later, it became known that the entire chain would be bought by one of the McDonalds franchisee partners, the owner of the Club Hotel company, Alexander Govor. He previously developed 25 “restaurants” and has now acquired another 600 establishments. The businessman has already stated that he intends to expand the network to 1 thousand points. At the same time, an American company can return to its authorized capital within 15 years.

Economist Nikita Krichevsky believes that the biggest problem for the new network will be staffing.

“The employees, who are mostly young people, fled in all directions. Now on the doors of establishments there are advertisements for hiring everyone. There is no excitement. And in this regard, we recall the bitter cry about the loss of 62 thousand jobs. The technological process is not difficult to start. It’s more difficult to restore the Bigmachnaya personnel carousel,” he wrote.

The burger joints will change their name, but to what name is still unknown. The former McDonalds app recently began opening under the name “My Burger.” But the new owners do not yet guarantee that these words will replace the famous letter “M”.

But the new logo of the diner was officially presented - two yellow stripes and a red dot on a green background. This symbolizes fries and a burger. The emblem has received criticism from different camps.

“The new McDonald's logo is monstrous. Some dark, joyless colors, this gloomy green, dull orange, which is like French fries (the circle is like a burger). Compared to the bright sunny colors of old Mac, it looks like something very dull. Well, okay, so you’re taking away the business, but can this be beautifully arranged somehow?”, the scandalous TV presenter Ksania Sobchak wrote in her TG channel.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s nonsense. But! Do you know what it looks like? A dot and two dashes in Morse code. And the dash-dash-dot in Morse is the letter G. Guess for yourself what the new company from McDonalds means with the letter G,” joked Belarusian TV journalist Igor Tur.

As for the menu, it will change. The Big Mac and Happy meal will no longer be available; they will be replaced by other burgers and sets. McDonald's has banned the preparation of its "classic dishes".

Governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov claims that the menu will remain 95% the same.

“During the suspension, the company analyzed the products of domestic suppliers. There will be the smell of bacon and sesame buns. All the raw materials were already domestic, so we had to look for a replacement in a very targeted manner. Everything we need has already been found,” Vorobiev said.

“I think there will even be the same Big Macs, just with a different name. I'm sure it might even taste better. Maybe there will be a shortage of some imported ingredients. So what, we have mustard and adjika,” Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov commented on the situation.

However, sociologists have found that half of Russians do not want to visit McDonald's after the rebranding. The respondents most often explain their position by fundamental disagreement with the company’s policy: “They left like that, they left, there is no turning back.”

After McDonald's stopped operating in Russia, 25% of their customers switched to eating at KFC, 17% started going to Burger King, and 4% started cooking at home.

A month ago, a popular rebranding competition was held on the Internet. It won the classic McDonald's logo inverted in the form of the letter Z.

“Should we welcome the return of all Western companies that left Russia by loudly slamming the door? Let's say, you can do without McDonald's: if you leave, good riddance. By the way, in the United States, the presence of McDonald's in a particular country is considered an indicator of US influence, and its absence as a weakening of this influence. Once upon a time, the role of such symbols was played by Standard Oil and Coca-Cola, now by McDonald’s. It’s unlikely that, given the current relations with the United States, we need this symbol in Russia,” said Russian Senator Alexei Pushkov.