A hamburger and two fries, with the union of a circle and two lines. This is how the new Russian McDonald’s logo is described, which will open its doors on Sunday, the day that commemorates the creation of the Russian Federation in 1991. There are those who see in this union of circle and lines an attempt to form the letter. “METER”.
The name of the chain has not yet been released, although some have been reported. But according to the BBC, the Izvestia newspaper is worth submitting eight potential names to Rospatent, which is the government’s intellectual property agency. “Tot Samyi”, which will mean “the same”, and “Svobodnaya Kassa”, which means available cash register, will be some of the names on the table. The Guardian also notes that RIA Novosti reported that the app had been renamed “My Burger”, but this was later said to be a temporary designation, to comply with an agreement to drop the McDonald’s name.
15 units should be reopened, according to the Tass news agency, quoted by the BBC. Tass cites Sistema PBO, the firm that previously managed the McDonald’s business. And it is this company that also explains that the green logo is intended to “symbolize the quality of the products and services to which our customers are accustomed”.
The opening of McDonald’s in Russia in 1990 was once seen as a milestone in opening the country to the West, with the end of the Cold War drawing near and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
On January 31, 1990, a queue (an estimated 38,000 people passed) ran for several blocks near Pushkin Square in central Moscow. Now, with the war in Ukraine, the company announced its departure from the country. And later, he announced the sale of the units to a Russian businessman, who already had some McDonald’s restaurants in Siberia.
About 84% of the food giant’s restaurants fast food in the country they were owned by McDonald’s, while the rest were franchises. It had about 850 units in Russia. Stores in Russia and Ukraine generated about 9% of its annual revenue.
In May it announced its intention to sell its units, after initially reporting only a temporary closure. In the meantime, he managed to reach an agreement with Alexander Govor, who operated 25 units in Siberia, to take over the remaining restaurants and workers (about 62 thousand people), operating under a new brand, a new menu and having to remove the elements. McDonald’s graphics.
Govor’s relationship with the American brand began in 2015. Govor is also a co-founder of Neftekhimservice, an oil refining company, and a board member of another company that owns the Park Inn hotel and a set of clinics in Siberia.
At the time of communicating the sale, McDonald’s did not reveal the value of the operation, but said, according to the BBC, that it would record an impairment with this exit of $1,000 million.
The agreement provides for McDonald’s to maintain the trademark registration in Russia.
Source: Observadora
