After a break of a few months, the Russian-owned restaurants will open in stages. The first 15 restaurants opened their doors in Moscow on Sunday.
Moscow
From Russia the first restaurants in the former premises of the outgoing fast-food chain McDonald’s opened in Moscow on Sunday morning.
Employees prepare for the restaurant’s opening on Sunday morning.
The name of the new restaurants is now Vkusno i totška, meaning tasty and dot. The name was revealed at a press conference held before the opening of the restaurants, where the Russian owner of the new fast food chain spoke. Alexander Speech and the CEO Oleg Parojev.
The press conference was held at a historic site, on the former premises of Russia’s first McDonald’s, in the heart of Bolshaya Bronnaja Street.
The restaurant was crammed full of media on Sunday morning, Russia’s National Day. Govor suspected that the media was present even more than 32 years ago, when the first McDonald’s burger restaurant opened in 1990.
The first 15 Vkusno i totška restaurants opened in Moscow and the Moscow region on Sunday at 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. on the premises of the former McDonald’s restaurants.
An additional 50 restaurants will open on Monday. According to Parojev, by the end of June, 200 Vkusno i totška restaurants will be open across the country. The plan is to open 50 to 100 restaurants a week.
The new logo for the restaurants was announced last week.
The new logo for the restaurants was announced last week.
Fast food restaurant the menu has remained more or less the same. A variety of burgers, nuggets, french fries and desserts are available.
At least Bic Mac burgers and McFlurry dessert have left the selection because, according to Parojev, they merged so strongly with McDonalds. Parojev said the replacement products are scheduled to be launched in the near future.
The name of many dishes has changed in Vkusno i totška. For example, a portion of Sundae ice cream is just ice cream, and the Chicken McNuggets have simply replaced the chicken nuggets with “nuggets”.
According to Parojev, the entire menu will not be available at the beginning for logistical reasons, which he said is due to the rapid opening of a new restaurant chain. The appearance of the packaging may also change.
In downtown McDonald’s, only Coca-cola was available for lemonades on Sunday. Restaurant Manager David Kuryaev according to Fanta and Lipton tea, among others, have left the selection at least for the time being.
Customers were pleased with the opening of the burger restaurant, but at least the new name did not please the fast food restaurants interviewed by HS. Postgraduate student arriving for lunch Marina Ivanova26, found the name strange.
“It’s reminiscent of some Uzbek fast food restaurant,” Ivanova said.
Ivanova and her friends, translator-editor Jin Qitong26, were pleased that the restaurant has otherwise remained almost the same, including its taste.
“We are very happy that nothing has changed.”
Marina Ivanova and Jin Qitong were pleased that the restaurant has remained almost the same.
Moscow-based physics student Yevgeny Kramaryev22, arrived among the first inaugural guests to test the fast-food restaurant that replaced McDonald’s.
He bought chicken burger, cheeseburger, ice cream and Coca-Cola. In taste, he found no difference, at least in a worse direction.
Yevgeny Kramarjev bought chicken burger, cheeseburger, ice cream and Coca-Cola. In taste, he found no difference, at least in a worse direction.
“I arrived out of curiosity. I was interested in comparing whether the queues are as long as in 1990, ”Kramarjev said, presenting a photograph from his cell phone of the queue 32 years ago to the country’s first McDonald’s.
Then the line stretched for many hundreds of meters. On Sunday in the center of Vkusno i totchka was significantly less queuing. The restaurant was still full during the day.
Kramarjev was not particularly worried about the closure of McDonald’s. He believed it was due to social pressure in Western states.
Schoolchild Vlad Belenko16, had deviated from passing for a moment to enjoy a burger called grand-burger, chicken nuggets, french fries and a strawberry smoothie.
“It tastes very similar, no different,” Belenko estimates of the burger. “Crispy,” he said of the French.
Vlad Belenko departed to eat a burger called grand-burger.
The new logo reminded Belenko of the Marriott hotel logo. Kramarjev thought the logo would have been better without the color green.
Belenko thinks the new name is too long.
“I don’t think anyone is using it, but everyone is still talking about McDonald’s.”
McDonald’s withdrew from Russia in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The chain had 850 restaurants in Russia, which closed at the beginning of March, except for a few. Of the restaurants, 130 operated on a franchise basis.
The new restaurant gathered a queue in Moscow.
A poster hangs in the window of Moscow’s former McDonalds that reads “We Count Days to June 12”.
Correction June 12, 2022 at 12 noon: Fast food chain McDonald’s has not transferred to Russian ownership. The new Russian-owned restaurant chain will operate on the former premises of McDonald’s.