The cheeseburgers are saltier, fatter and cheaper.
But the sauces are McDonald’s old with the logo covered with a black felt pen.
– I am glad that this is now a Russian product, says customer Sergej to The Moscow Times.
At the same time as the Russians celebrated National Day with a huge Soviet victory flag outside Moscow’s Victory Museum, the new Russian fast food chain Vkusno-i Tochka, roughly “Good – neither more nor less”, opened its doors in 15 places in the capital.
When McDonald’s closed its operations in Russia due to the war, hundreds of restaurants and their furnishings were sold to Siberian businessman Alexander Govor.
“Russian product”
The queues were long outside the flagship restaurant at Pushkin Square when it opened on Sunday, writes The Moscow Times.
But as much as you want to emphasize national pride in the newly opened chain – just as much you want to point out that everything is just as usual.
All employees at Vkusno-i Tochka wore buttons on their shirts that said “the taste is the same”, the newspaper writes.
– I am glad that this is now a Russian product, that we are independent, so to speak, from foreign guardians, says customer Sergej, who was waiting in line with a Russian flag painted on his cheek, to The Moscow Times.
Much of the menu was also difficult to distinguish from McDonald’s regular range. No Big Mac was found.
McNuggets became nuggets
But the fried chicken pieces Chicken McNuggets were identical, but under the more generic name “nuggets”.
The same thing with the fish burger Fish-O-Fillet which is found under the logical name “fish burger”.
The Moscow Times has tested parts of the Russian hamburger chain’s products and concluded the following:
• French fries and pies taste exactly like McDonalds.
• The cheeseburger was saltier and fatter in taste.
• The sauces were McDonald’s old package with the logo smeared with a black felt-tip pen.
• The menus were about half the price against McDonalds.
The big challenge for the Russian sanction burgers is said to be to keep the quality as they open new restaurants around the country.
May keep the job
Those that have been opened so far largely use goods that have remained since the days of McDonald’s.
Alexander Govor’s agreement with the American fast food giant means that the 62,000 employees in the Russian operations will be allowed to keep their jobs for at least a two-year period.
Before the fast-opening day, everything that contained McDonald’s characteristic logo had to be removed, or deleted.
But there was no time to print the new logo – two orange lines and a red circle on a green background – on cardboard mugs, boxes and bags. So most of it is all white.