MockDonald’s: Burger bars reopen in Moscow

CROWDS flocked to former McDonald’s outlets in Moscow yesterday as they reopened under a new name and owner.

The American fast food giant halted operations in Russia in March, joining a boycott by many other multi-nationals after the invasion of Ukraine.

Two months later, McDonald’s decided to leave the country altogether and sold its 850 restaurants.

They were bought by Alexander Govor, who had held licences for 25 franchises in Siberia and has moved fast to reopen the outlets, starting with 15 in Moscow. The chains’s new name was only announced hours before the venues opened: ‘Vkusno-i Tochka’ meaning ‘Tasty, that’s it!’

The logo is also different but still evokes the famous golden arches: a circle and two yellow oblongs – representing a beef patty and fries – configured into a stylised M.

General director Oleg Paroev aims to have 200 venues open by the end of the month. Yesterday the crowd at the Pushkin Square outlet was sizable and lively but no match for the turnout when McDonald’s opened in 1990 with customers queuing for hours.

It was the first taste most Muscovites had of Western consumerism and service as well as a sign the Soviet Union was slowly dropping its guard and allowing in foreign culture. As part of the sales deal, the new owners agreed to retain all 62,000 staff who had been employed by McDonald’s.

This means they are familiar with the methods and recipes of the global chain and several items retain a very close resemblance to those they replaced.

The double cheeseburger is still called that and looks almost exactly the same. One customer named on local TV as Lyudmila said: ‘It tasted the same, nothing has changed’.

But the updated menu is much smaller and lacks staple items such as Big Macs and the McFlurry. They were barred in the sales deal as they are identified too closely with the McDonald’s brand.