KUCHING, June 14 : Russia bids farewell to good old Big Mac and Fillet-O-Fish as McDonald’s is now reborn under a new Russian ownership chain, Vkusno & tochka.
Vkusno & tochka which translates as “Tasty and that’s it”, begins Russia’s fast-food’s new era as it open its doors on Sunday (June 12).
They unveiled their new logo of orange, green and yellow, reportedly represents two sticks of yellow fried potatoes and a burger. The information was released by a spokesman for the PBO System, which manages the new restaurant chain, to the Russian agency Tass.
“The green background of the logo symbolizes the quality of the products and the service to which our guests are accustomed to. The logo will be used in the advertising campaign that we launched,” the spokesperson said.
On Sunday, scores of people queued outside what was formerly McDonald’s flagship restaurant in Pushkin Square, central Moscow. There is a significant decline in the queue compared to the thousands of people who swarmed to McDonald’s first opening there in 1990.
“The rebranded chain will retain McDonald’s interior but will remove any references to its former name”, said its Chief Executive Oleg Paroev, who was also Mcdonald’s former Russian head.
“Our goal is that our guests do not notice a difference either in quality or ambience,” Paroev told a media conference in what was the first branch of McDonald’s that opened in Soviet Moscow in 1990.
Vkusno & tochka’s offered a slightly less variation on the menu and does not include the Big Mac and some other burgers and desserts, such as the McFlurry. A double cheeseburger was going for 129 Rouble (RM10) compared with roughly 160 Rouble (RM12) under McDonald’s and a fish burger for 169 Rouble (RM13), compared with about 190 Rouble (RM15) previously.
The composition of burgers has not changed and the equipment from McDonald’s has remained, said Alexander Merkulov, quality manager at the new company. -TVS
