The new fast-food chain that will take over McDonald’s in Russia has unveiled its new logo before its relaunch.
The new logo design shows a red-orange circle and two orange lines against a green background, the image reportedly represents two sticks of yellow fried potatoes and a yellow-orange burger.
The green background is reported to represent the quality of products and services.
Critics on social media have commented on its similarity with the Bangladeshi flag. “This is the flag of our country,” one user said on Facebook while it also showed an emoticon with the flag.
McDonald’s new owner has not yet decided on a new brand name, a spokesperson for the company, the Sistema PBO, told the state-run TASS news agency.
Two of the eight names under consideration are “Tot Samyi”, which translates as “The Same” or “That One” and “Svobodnaya Kassa” (Available Cash Register), according to a report by The Moscow Times.
The relaunch of the chain is expected to begin on Sunday when the country celebrates Russia Day, a holiday marking the country’s independence, at the same flagship location in Moscow’s Pushkin Square where McDonald’s first opened in Russia in January 1990.
The reopening will initially cover 15 locations in Moscow and the surrounding region.
McDonald’s last month said it was selling its restaurants in Russia to one of its local licensees, Alexander Govor. The deal marked one of the most high-profile business departures since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24.
Govor has said he plans to expand the new brand to 1,000 locations across the country and reopen all the chain’s restaurants within two months. But there may be some headwinds.
McDonald’s, the world’s largest burger chain, had owned 84 percent of its nearly 850 restaurants across Russia and it took a charge of up to $1.4bn following the sale to Govor, whose GiD LLC had previously run 25 restaurants.
The fast-food chain last year generated about 9 percent, or $2bn, of its revenue from Russia and Ukraine. McDonald’s has the right to buy its Russian restaurants back within 15 years, but many terms of the sale to Govor remain unclear.
The TASS news agency said on Wednesday McDonald’s would stay open as usual at airports and railway stations in Moscow and St Petersburg until 2023, quoting a source close to Rosinter Restaurants ROST.MM, another franchisee.
“Rosinter has a unique agreement under which the American corporation cannot take the franchise away. They can operate in peace,” TASS quoted the source as saying.
