Former McDonald’s restaurants are reopening with new branding in Russia after the popular fast food chain announced it was pulling out of the country.
McDonald’s began selling its business in Russia last month after 30 years of operation there following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. McDonald’s chief executive Chris Kempczinski said at the time: “It is a complicated issue that’s without precedent and with profound consequences.”
He added: “It is impossible to ignore the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. And it is impossible to imagine the Golden Arches representing the same hope and promise that led us to enter the Russian market 32 years ago.”
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McDonald’s was one of many well-known companies to stop operations in Russia due to the war in Ukraine , including Starbucks and Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC and Pizza Hut. Now the old restaurants are set to reopen, with the launch of new branding taking place on patriotic independence holiday Russia Day on June 12, The Mirror reports .
The big reopening will take place at the location where McDonald’s first opened in Russia back in January 1990, in Moscow’s Pushkin Square. The iconic ‘Golden Arches’ McDonald’s branding has been taken down in locations across Russia and will be replaced by a new logo.
The new branding sports a red dot and two curved orange shapes against a green background. Representing classic fast food restaurant staples - fries and a hamburger patty - the abstract logo will make the former McDonald’s branches unrecognisable.
15 locations in Moscow and the surrounding region will initially see former McDonald’s restaurants reopen under the new branding. McDonald’s sold its Russian restaurants to local licensee Alexander Govor, who has said he has plans to expand the new brand to 1,000 locations across the country.
Govor also said that all McDonald’s restaurants in Russia will be reopened within two months. The new name for the rebranded restaurants is yet to be announced.
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