McDonald’s is a sign of the times for Russia. The company that 32 years ago symbolized the landing of multinational corporations in the twilight of the Soviet Union is now at war with the widespread flight from Ukraine by hasty departure from the Eurasian country and selling its businesses to local businessmen. “La Gran M” has announced the transfer of its subsidiary to a partner from Siberia, who will rename the brand and change the menus. The terms of the agreement have not been made public, although the company admitted a few days ago that it will write off around 1.3 billion euros in losses due to its exit from Russia.
The fast-food chain has announced it will sell its Russian subsidiary to its partner Alexander Góvor, who has expanded the chain in Siberia by opening 25 restaurants in remote parts of the country since 2015. Góvor started his fortune in 2007 mining in the Kuzbas region in a joint venture with Roman Abramovich’s Evraz company. According to The Bell, 148 workers were killed on two farms.
McDonald’s suspended operations in March in the face of the storm triggered by the Ukraine offensive. The prospects for the price of the ruble, the current strength of which does not correspond to the banks’ real exchange rate, and the rest of the problems of a country facing a large wave of sanctions, prompted the company to temporarily close its restaurants. Of these, only the few remained open in train stations and airports, where huge queues formed to acquire what now seemed “a luxury”, despite the fact that great rival Burger King stood in front of the establishments that decided to discontinue their activity to maintain .
According to Tass Agency, the multinational owned 84% of its nearly 850 restaurants in Russia and controlled 7% of the restaurant sector. However, it has been one of the hardest hit by the sanctions as other companies like KFC have kept their shops open as most of their facilities are franchises run by Russian businessmen.
The company’s presence in Russia has been serious business despite jokes that McDonald’s could be nationalized by the Kremlin or turned into an ‘Uncle Vanya’, the meme that has caused a stir in Russia with the joke of renaming the McDonald’s brand through investment . The capital M’ in a ‘B’, the ‘ve’ in Cyrillic. Immediately after the sale was announced, the Moscow Region Food and Agriculture Service assured that this operation could create about 6,000 additional jobs in the province.
The agreement signed with Góvor provides for the maintenance of the 62,000 jobs created by McDonald’s for at least two years. In addition, you must assume all your obligations to suppliers, landlords and public companies.
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The question now is whether the Russian customer will accept the new image of the burger shop. According to sources from the chain and Oleg Bukharov, President of the Russian Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers, the Tass agency assured that only the original names and logos will disappear, but the menus will be identical. From mid-June it will therefore be possible to check to what extent the McDonald’s brand is the main ingredient in their hamburgers.