Big Macs still sold in Russia despite McDonald’s exit

Despite the fact that many of its franchise locations in Russia are reopening on Sunday, Big Macs will still be available at some of them despite the fact that they have new branding and ownership.

In May, McDonald’s Russia had sold most of its 850 restaurants to one of its local licensees. Some of those reopened Sunday under the new name Vkusno & tochka, or “Tasty and that’s it,” offering a new menu without the flagship burger. 

Other franchisees, however, have kept their locations open and sold authentic McDonald’s food in restaurants that were barely disguised by McDonald’s branding.

Their lingering presence underscores the challenges that Western companies face in separing themselves fully from Russia’s market in the face of Moscow’s actions regarding Ukraine.

At Moscow and St Petersburg train stations, the McDonald’s logo and name were covered in transparent, white fabric. The Big Mac burger was still available, but it was renamed Bolshoi Burger or Big Burger.

McDonald’s logos could be seen on take-out bags in Moscow’s Leningradskiy Station or St Petersburg’s Finlandskiy Station. However, the branding of the United States company was still visible on other packaging.

Rival Burger King stopped corporate support for its Russia locations on March 1, but the restaurants continue to thrive in places like central Moscow. Burger King has been unable to break the complex franchise arrangement.

The nuance of McDonald’s also applies to franchises. Rosinter Restaurants, a franchisee, has decided to keep its locations at Moscow and St Petersburg’s airports and train stations until 2023. Rosinter Restaurants claims that it has a unique agreement with the American corporation. TASS reported last week.

“EVERYTHING CHANGES”

Although the Big Mac is no longer available at Rosinter’s outlets in St Petersburg, it was still possible to order one from there. Diana, the cashier explained that fries were not available due to no deliveries and that potato wedges were available instead.

The same was true of soft drinks made from the soda gun. The restaurant was selling Coca-Cola bottles by the bottle. Coca-Cola has stopped selling in Russia. Coca Cola, which distributes the soft drinks in many countries, told Reuters that it has not provided products to these new restaurants and does not plan to.

The Big Mac was served in a box called “Chicken Premier”, which appeared to be missing the signature sauce.

Valentina, the store manager, smiled saidWhen asked if there was more sauce than usual, he replied: “Everything’s changing.”

Rosé saidIt was experiencing delivery problems due to disruptions in supply chains. It stated that this was a temporary problem that will be resolved once the logistics situation normalizes. said.

Astoria, part NMGK, was unable to be reached by telephone and did not respond via email to comments.

McDonald’s declined comments on the details of Reuters’ reporting. The company saidIt was completely out of the market when it completed the transfer of its Russian business from Govor.

(Reporting by Reuters; Additional reporting by Hilary Russ, Jessica DiNapoli; Editing done by Matt Scuffham and Alexandra Hudson; David Evans