The former McDonald’s restaurants, bought by Sistema BPO from Russian oligarch Alexander Gower, are due to reopen next Sunday after the US chain left the country a month ago to be allowed into Moscow.
The date was not chosen randomly as Russia Day, which celebrates the country’s independence, is celebrated on June 12. The main party is scheduled to re-open in Pushkin Square, where McDonald’s first opened in 1990, marking the expansion that took place at the time.
According to the Moscow Times, 15 restaurants with the new corporate brand are scheduled to open in the Russian capital this Sunday, followed by another 200 across the country by the end of June. The selected image represents a hamburger and two fries on a green background.
The name of the new chain, which includes 840 restaurants belonging to the North American chain, has not yet been chosen, according to news agency DOS. It is known that Alexander Gower, a Siberian who made his fortune in oil and coal, plans to expand the chain to about 1,000 restaurants.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Alexander Gower promised to retain about 62,000 McDonald’s employees for two years. The new owner should have very iconic menus, even with minor name fixes. Due to restrictions, traditional soft drinks have to be replaced by local brands.
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