It’s an uncomfortable, dark McDonald’s tucked away in a corner of Leningrad Train Station, but the line there is never-ending because it’s the last one open in central Moscow. The franchise owner is fighting back. Kira, 16, had come specially and devoured a Big Mac, one of her last. “Yes, I’m nostalgic, she admits. We already miss McDonald’s.”
“It makes me sad, I want them to stay here, I don’t want to say goodbye to them.”
Kira, Muscovite
at franceinfo
Two more restaurants are open in Moscow at Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo airports. But not all Russians will regret the disappearance of McDonald’s in the country. Timur came with his girlfriend Irina, who had never eaten it before, and they won’t miss it. “I think it’s stupid to come here and stand in line for an hour to eat, for me it’s a waste of time,” he says. But hey, it’s his first time so we decided to stay. I’m not sorry to see that they are leaving, there are many alternatives.”
Customers order at Mc Donald’s restaurant at Leningrad railway station in Moscow, Russia, May 20, 2022. (SYLVAIN TRONCHET / RADIO FRANCE)
To demonstrate its opposition to the military invasion of Ukraine, the American fast-food chain is selling its 850 Russian restaurants to a local businessman who already franchises 25 McDonald’s restaurants. Viktor Govor has pledged to take over the company’s 62,000 employees in Russia, most of whom have stopped working – but are still being paid – since the chain announced in early March that it was ceasing operations. The businessman will not have the right to take over the McDonald’s brand and products, which will therefore completely disappear from Russia in a few days, 32 years after their arrival under the USSR in the midst of perestroika.
When the first McDonald’s opened on Pushkin Square in Moscow, we were on the verge of a riot. Since then, Russia has fully entered the Western consumer society. But Andrei, 26, believes things are about to change. “If you’ve been going to Mc Donalds your whole life, you can’t imagine your life without them,” he explains.
“The events that happened and everything that followed them dealt a serious blow to the habits of Russians. It is, first of all, a symbol, the symbol of our former life.”
Andrei, Muscovite
at franceinfo
And there are always alternatives: when you leave the train station, you come across a Burger King restaurant. The brand has not decided to leave Russia.
Last Big Macs in Moscow: Report by Sylvain Tronchet
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