As many as 15 McDonald's restaurants have reopened in Moscow, but they have been rebranded under the new ownership. The new name is "Vkusno i tochka" which translates to "Tasty and that's it."
The US fast food chain had announced its departure from Russia in May, over the invasion of Ukraine and just three days later a Russian businessman Alexander Govor, who had been a licensee of the chain, bought the 850-restaurant operation.
"I am very proud of the honour that developing this enterprise has given me," Govor said on Sunday, adding further that while supervising the reopening of the 850 restaurants, he will simultaneously develop more in the near future, as per Business Insider.
McDonald's had first opened its restaurant in Moscow's Pushkin Square in 1990. This not only marked the fall of the Soviet Union but also the beginning of a 'western wave' in the country.
The CEO of Vkusno i tochka, Oleg Paroyev, was handed the reins of Russia's McDonald's weeks before the Ukraine invasion commenced in February. In a press conference he revealed that the company is working towards opening at least 200 restaurants by the end of June, RTE news reported.
"Our goal is that our guests do not notice a difference either in quality or ambience" Paroyev said. He also mentioned that the restaurants will remove every reference to the old name but the interior will remain the same.
The state outlet TASS had also announced the launch of a new logo on Thursday after the design was confirmed by Russia's Sistema PBO, which manages the chain.
The reopening day of Vkusno i tochka was a well-thought out decision because it falls on Russia Day, a national holiday celebrating the 1990 adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR).
