Russian McDonald's

It might look and smell like McDonald's but now it's Vkusno & tochka. The golden arches are gone, the Filet-O-Fish is simply a fish burger.

"We will try to do something even better so that our visitors and guests like this dish." He said the chain would keep "affordable prices", though added that prices would likely rise due to inflation, but not higher than its competitors. "The taste has stayed the same," he said as he tucked into a chicken burger and fries. The old McDonald's logo on packets of ketchup and other sauces were covered over with makeshift black markings. The reopenings took place on Russia Day, a holiday celebrating national pride. The golden arches are gone, the Filet-O-Fish is simply a fish burger.

US fast-food giant McDonald's announced in May that it would leave Russia following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The US chain booked a $1.4bn charge for the deal. McDonald’s did not respond to a request for comment on the price. “Vkusno-i tochka” reopened on Sunday in Pushkin Square in what was McDonald’s first restaurant in Soviet Moscow in 1990, when it sold as many as 30,000 burgers, but the queue outside the restaurant was much smaller than it was three decades ago. The United States fast-food giant McDonald’s announced on May 16 that it would exit the Russian market in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Chief Executive Oleg Paroev, McDonald’s former Russian head, said the new company had settled on the new name – a closely guarded secret – only the day before the launch on Sunday. On Sunday, McDonald’s restaurants reopened their doors in Moscow once again under new Russian ownership and a new name, “Vkusno-i tochka”, which translates as “Tasty and that’s it”.

The first of dozens of restaurants taken over after the iconic fast-food chain McDonald's pulled out of Russia has reopened in Moscow, under new ownership ...

Paroyev said the new chain will keep its old McDonald's interior but will remove any references to its old name. Dozens of Russians lined up on Sunday at the famous Moscow location where McDonald's first opened its doors 30 years ago to try out the new burgers and fries. The first of dozens of restaurants taken over after the iconic fast-food chain McDonald's pulled out of Russia has reopened in Moscow, under new ownership and a new name: Tasty and That's It.

The golden arches and Big Mac may have gone, but Russians saw 15 McDonald's restaurants reopen on Sunday under new branding and ownership, according to its ...

The company's new logo shared with CNN has "the main symbols of the restaurant" depicted on it — what is supposed to be two sticks of yellow fries and an orange burger. "But also by law we protected a nation who is fighting for their own sovereignty, so there is a lot of issues right now...I am just here to enjoy some good old McDonald's, man." "Approximately 32 years ago...there were a lot of people on Pushkinskaya Square, when the first McDonald's franchise opened here in Russia. It caused quite the craze. It took place at the same location in Moscow's Pushkinskaya Square, where McDonald's opened its first Russian restaurant at the time. "If you recall, in May, McDonald's announced they were removing their businesses from Russia. I am very proud that they chose me to continue developing this business. "I see it as clear as day and I know what has to be done and I don't mind it, I know it is just how this has to be because the rest of the world sees us as aggressors which we are, we invaded a sovereign state by law," he added. "That's not what I was expecting," he said, adding that he plans on coming to the restaurant at least once a week. I think the craze will be just as big with this new chain of restaurants, with a new owner, a real entrepreneur," Alexei Alexeevich, the Head of the Department of Commerce of Moscow, said during a press conference on Sunday. "I won't hide the fact that I am an ambitious man, and so I am not just going to simply open up all 850 restaurants but I am going to develop new ones as well," he said. The company, which has Oleg Paroev serving as director general, plans to open 200 branches by the end of June and all branches by the end of the summer, according to a press release. That means the company views me as someone who fully shares all the principles of business and values of McDonald's," Govor said at a press conference.

Named Vkusno & tochka ('Tasty and that's it'), the fast-food chain appears to be a copy of the American original.

Alexander Govor, the owner of the chain, said up to 7 bn roubles (£98.63m) would be invested this year in the business, which employs 51,000 people, Reuters reported. More than 30,000 Soviet customers queued for hours in the cold to try their first hamburger or Coke. Slogans sewn on the employees’ uniforms said: “The same smiles.”