'Tasty and That's It', Russia's McDonald's replacement goes international

Have you been wondering what the "Russian McDonald's" food tastes like? Well, if you feel like taking a trip to Belarus soon, you will be able to try it. That's right, 'Vkusno I Tochka' ('Tasty and That's It'), has gone international.

EuroNews reported that the owner of the chain of fast-food restaurants, Alexander Govor (pictured) told the press, "We are entering a new market. Now Vkusno I Tochka will operate not only in Russia, but also in Belarus."

'Vkusno I Tochka' released a press statement in November that said it was finishing up a franchise agreement with KSB Victory, which owns a chain of fast-food restaurants in Belarus. 'Vkusno I Tochka' plans to open 25 restaurants across six cities in the country.

Vkusno & Tochka is the Russian replacement for McDonald's. It has had a rough start since opening, with a shortage over the summer of an essential item on any fast food restaurant's menu: French fries.

Over the summer various media outlets reported that the head of the chain told a business channel in Russia that French fry producers refused to supply Russia and that attempts to increase domestic production were problematic.

Paroev told RBC TV, "What has happened now is that due to well-known events, many foreign companies, I would even say all major producers of fries, have refused to deliver this product to Russia."

Paroev went on to explain that the factories in both "friendly" and "unfriendly" countries that produce fries belong to five or six major companies whose headquarters are based in unfriendly nations and have refused to supply to Russia.

In addition, Paroev explained that there was a shortage of the specific potatoes needed for fries in Russia's harvest this year and that only a few companies could process French fry potatoes in Russia.

When McDonald's announced on May 16 that it would no longer allow restaurants in the country to remain in the Russian market due to the country's invasion of Ukraine, millions of Russians were very disappointed.

It is unsurprising that less than a month later, the former fast-food restaurants opened once again with a new name and under Russian ownership.

The new chain of hamburgers restaurants is called "Vkusno-i tochka", which translates as "Tasty and that's it."

Naturally, a new logo comes with a new name: two fries and a hamburger against a green background, which looks vaguely like an "M," undoubtedly in the hopes of bringing that "McDonald's feeling" back to Russians craving food from their favorite fast-food chain.

"Vkusno-i tochka" held its grand reopening on Sunday in Pushkin Square in what was McDonald's first restaurant in Soviet Moscow in 1990. The queues were not nearly as long compared to 1990, nor was the excitement.

The new chain is keeping the old McDonald's interior; however, customers will not find any trace of the name McDonald's.

According to Aljazeera, to begin, 15 rebranded restaurants were opened in Moscow and the surrounding area.

Executives claimed that by the end of this summer, all 850 former McDonald's restaurants will be opened under the new brand. According to EuroNews, they managed to open 830 restaurants in Russia by the fall of 2022.

Per the BBC, the new owner of the chain is Alexander Nikolaevich Govor, a Siberian oil magnate. Mr. Govor has told the media that 7 billion roubles, around $121 m will go into this new business venture which will give jobs to more than 50,000 Russians.

However, Russians who are craving some of their favorite Mickie-D's menu items might be disappointed. The menu is much smaller, and some of the most popular items are missing. "Vkusno-i tochka" does not sell the McFlurry or the Big Mac, for example.

But visitors to the restaurant will most likely be impressed with the prices, which are cheaper than what was on offer at McDonald's.

For example, a fish burger is only 169 rubles compared to 190 rubles when under McDonald's, and a double cheeseburger costs just 129 rubles ($2.24) whereas before it cost 160 rubles.

After a little more than three decades in Russia, McDonald's made the decision fully exit the country. In March 2022, McDonald's closed down all its restaurants in the country following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In a news release, McDonald's said, "The humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, and the precipitating unpredictable operating environment, have led McDonald's to conclude that continued ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald's values."

According to The Wall Street Journal, McDonald's was "expected to record a charge of between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion in connection with the move."

The news outlet also reported that the company said it would continue to pay the salaries of its 60,000 Russian employees until the company's portfolio of restaurants in Russia were sold.

The exit of McDonald's from Russia is a bitter end to an era that once promised hope for many Russians. The fast-food restaurant is among the most well-known symbols of American capitalism.

The first McDonald's restaurant opened in Pushkin Square in Moscow just over 32 years ago, and hundreds of people lined up to get a taste of the West.

It was indeed a true symbol of the Iron Curtain being lifted as the communist Soviet regime fell apart and Western businesses moved in.

Join us as we take a look at some of our favorite iconic photos of McDonald's in Russia over the years.
Pictured: The McDonald's flagship restaurant, the first opened in 1990, seen here on March 13, 2022.

A Soviet policeman stands by a queue of people waiting to enter a newly opened McDonald's on Gorky Street in Moscow in 1990.

A Soviet customer of the just opened first McDonald's in Russia holds little flags of the US fast food enterprise on January 31, 1990 at Moscow's Pushkin Square.

People line up to enter a McDonald's in Moscow in the mid-90's.

Traditionally dressed Russian musicians perform in front of the busiest McDonald's restaurant in the world in 2005, the restaurant in Pushkin Square in Moscow.

Between 1990 and 2005 McDonald's served more than one billion customers and more than 132 million Big Macs. By 2005 there were 127 McDonald's restaurants in 37 Russian cities.

A vendor selling Lenin/McDonald's T-shirts in Moscow, on April 22, 1994, to celebrate the 124th anniversary of Vladimir Lenin's birth.

A Josef Stalin lookalike (R) eats McDonald's French fries as his colleague "Vladimir Lenin" (L) rests during a lunch break in central Moscow on August 14, 2009.

Russian women walk in front of a McDonald's in March of 2022.