The name is new, and so is the logo. Instead of the iconic M, it is now a small circle and two stripes that seem to represent a burger and two fries. The food is also called different, but the new CEO, Oleg Paroev, swears that the diners will not notice the difference between McDonald’s and Vkusno & totsjka, neither in quality nor in ambiance. The interiors remain the same, the staff is the same and the ingredients and recipes of the food are the same as when it was called McDonald’s. The CEO himself is also the same: Paroev had been appointed director in Russia by McDonald’s in early February, a few weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine.
In protest against the Russian invasion, McDonald’s decided to close all its restaurants in March, and in mid-May the group announced that it was withdrawing completely from Russia, following many Western companies. It sold all of its restaurants to Alexander Govor, a Siberian oil tycoon who was already one of McDonald’s licensees. The condition of the sale was that the famous logo and all the typical ‘Mac’ names of the citizens and nuggets could no longer be used.
Those names have changed, but owner Govor has left everything completely the same and he promises that it will remain so: the offer in the restaurants will not change. Almost all ingredients are produced in Russia itself, and will continue to be.
Pushkin Square
One of the first Vkusno & totchka branches to open its doors on Sunday was the one on Moscow’s Pushkin Square. That was the first restaurant McDonald’s opened in 1990. At the time, the arrival of the American fast food group was considered a symbol for the definitive end of the Cold War. The fact that the restaurant closed its doors after 32 years is seen as the end of the era of thaw.
The opening of Vkusno & Tchka will be a test of the resilience of the Russian economy, which must survive a mountain of stifling Western sanctions. If McDonald’s Russian-style restart is a success, that’s proof that it can survive those sanctions.
The 15 restaurants that have reopened are just the beginning: 200 Vkusno & Tochkas should be open by the end of June and all 850 former McDonald’s in Russia should be up and running again by the end of the summer.
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