The letter m was torn with sandpaper

In Moscow, the former McDonald's was re -opened on Pushkinskaya Square - without ordinary Cola and Bigmak. Report "Medusa"

The owners of the former network of restaurants of McDonald's, which at the last moment called the "tasty and point", sought to repeat the famous opening of McDonald's on Pushkin Square in Moscow in 1990. After 30 years, the turn of those who wanted to visit the restaurant clearly turned out to be less, but this event can also be called a symbol of the era. The correspondent of Medusa visited the Moscow opening (and did not find either my beloved shrimp Rolle or even an ordinary cola there).

On June 12, 15 restaurants of the former McDonalds resumed work in Moscow. The new name of the brand - “tasty and point” - became known only two hours before the opening of the main institution on Pushkinskaya Square, which was scheduled for 12 hours. At 10 am, his doors was not pleased: a crowd of several dozen people consisted mainly of journalists who unsuccessfully tried to find ordinary visitors to interview them. After a couple of hours, according to the Medusa correspondent, McDonald's correspondent gathered up to five hundred people.

“And we were told that it would be nine,” one of the employees with bright pink hair admits. She distributes balls with burgers and ice cream icons, as well as stickers and glasses. As such, there is no branding on them, and it seems that the same balls could be obtained from Burger King, and from the local chain of fast food in the Russian province (and the design of icons simply download on the Internet).

While people continued to gather outside, the leadership gave a press conference inside. On it, the general director of the Russian network Oleg Porosov announced a new name and stated that on Monday, June 13, another 50 restaurants will be resumed. The company in the near future plans to open from 50 to 100 points per week.

Why did some McDonalds continue to work until June, and four continue even now?

In short, due to the features of McDonald's business in Russia. Infoline CEO Ivan Fedyakov tells Medusa that McDonald's in Russia did not develop according to the traditional script for other countries - that is, not through the franchise: “The corporation everywhere develops work with its partners, which they have several thousand. Coming to Russia more than 30 years ago, they understood that it would be impossible to control the business of franchise partners here. They said that if they had developed in Russia in franchising, then Shawrema would be sold at McDonald's. ” Because of this, according to Fedyakov, McDonald's went through another model and completely controlled the business for almost 20 years. “When the number of restaurants approached 500, it became clear that the market has matured and the McDonald's brand itself has become recognizable for consumers. Then they began to develop franchising, ”Fedyakov explains.

Due to the franchise system, some of the restaurants continued to work after March: about 100 restaurants were under the control of three franchisees. The first such agreement with McDonald's in Russia wasconcluded in 2012 with LLC “Development LLC” (it controls the restaurants “IL Patio”, “Shikari”, “Planet of Sushi”). The company was engaged in McDonald's restaurants at railway stations and airports. They will continue to work in Russia until 2023, since the Russian partner has a “unique agreement, according to which the American corporation cannot take the franchise.” Open under the original brand will remain at the airports of Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo (Moscow) and Pulkovo (St. Petersburg), as well as at the Leningrad station in Moscow.

In 2015, two more organizations became the McDonald's franchisee. This is LLC "Regional Network of Food Enterprises" and LLC GID. The last company was engaged in the development of the network behind the Urals - in the Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo regions and in Altai. It was she who owned entrepreneur Alexander Govor, who in May bought the entire McDonald's network in Russia. The new owner pledged to manage institutions under another brand. The amount of the transaction is not disclosed - the entrepreneur refused to call it in an interview with Forbes.

Speakov warned that at the first stage of the opening of restaurants, not all the previously familiar menu will be available due to problems with logistics and packaging difficulties. According to him, the menu will definitely not be Big Mack Burgers and Makflurry's ice cream due to the "persistent Association with the McDonald's brand." “But I want to promise that in a very near future we will have worthy replacements of these products, which, I am sure, our consumers will appreciate and love,” he said.

Not everyone liked the news about the absence of Bigmaks. At a press conference, one of the visitors went to the zone of issuing orders with a single picket-on his poster it was written “Return Bigmak”. The police checked the documents from him, and the guard of the restaurant conducted the fence.

The man with the poster was the blogger Dmitry Likholetov, who arranged an action in March with the scattering of a hundred -ruble bills in one of the Moscow shopping centers. He later said that its meaning was to show the fall of the ruble. In a conversation with Medusa, Ligrates explained that the action at McDonald's “wanted to correct injustice” and “return this cool dish home”. But the “signs were taken away”, and he was “thrown over the scruff”, complained by the blogger.

Meanwhile, in a small, in comparison with 1990 , the queue of the guy in a bright blue jacket made his girlfriend a proposal. The crowd applauded, and the man in response to the questions of journalists joked: “I am worried, this is just my third marriage” - and promised to “buy everyone Bigmak at his expense”.

Not everyone was ready to communicate with the press. The girl in a red blouse and with a ball with potato Free at the very beginning of the line refused to tell why she came to Pushkinskaya today.

“But such an event,” the journalist with the camera persuades her.

- The meaning of the American culture to promote at such a time?

- Why then came here today? - A colleague continues to be interested in a light grin.

- I can't comment on this issue.

“It is unfair that foreigners received revenue from Russian products,” Nikolai shares his opinion. He also stands very close to the beginning of the line and dressed in a light blue shirt with a tie with Khokhloma painting. “Since everything is Russian, then the profit should be Russian. Today is the atmosphere of the holiday and the Day of Russia. Right now everything became honest. ” He admits that his favorite position on the menu was Bigmak, but does not despair: "You can go abroad and buy there."

The representative of the abroad is also standing in line: the American schools working as a primary school teacher of one of the private Moscow schools (he did not name his name in a conversation with Medusa). “When I was a teenager [in the USA], I watched the first McDonald's opened in the USSR in 1990. But now I want to see how it will be, compare with what was in the USA, ”he says, after which he takes out a camera from a black portfolio and takes a few pictures.

15 minutes later than announced, the first customers get inside. The menu presented in the restaurants is really significantly less than usual - for example, there was not even an ordinary cola! Of the cold drinks, it was possible to choose only the “Cola Zero” and two types of cold tea “Lipton” (but no “black -headed”).

There is no shrimp roll, except Bigmak and Bigsteen is not enough and some other burgers. However, not everyone noted the assortment. “From what we ordered, nothing has changed,” says a young guy with glasses named Alexei. “The letter m was smeared on sauces.” It shows on the packaging of corporate cheese sauce, in the upper corner of which is now a black spot from the marker. “But do not reassign everything. It is a pity that there are no [most popular positions], but I think that they will have a replacement, ”he said.

In the first 20 minutes of work, hundreds of orders were made.

- But the toilets are clean and free.

“[This is the main thing in McDonald's,” journalists with weighty tripods and cameras are thrown in phrases.

In other cities of Russia, you can have lunch (and visit clean toilets) very soon. According to the former McDonald's employee from St. Petersburg Anton (the name of the hero was changed at his request), his restaurant closed in March was planned to open on June 15, but later transferred the date on the twenties of the month. Anton worked at McDonald's for about three years as a universal employee - he was engaged in cooking and issuing food.

“There was a desire to go to work, many said that it was very difficult without work. There is a habit of coming, talking, running, ”says Anton“ Meduza ”. According to him, the employees met several times during the time of forced downtime, because they missed each other, and about a week ago they were informed that the network would continue to work under a new brand.

“They didn’t tell anything about the form, the managers say that they don’t buy a new one,” says the employee, associating this with the fact that last summer the form in McDonald's changed to clothing without emblem. With the proprietary letter M were only baseball caps. “There are two options with them: either we [the letters] are removed, or we pass them - and new ones are given to us. So far they are not talking about them. I saw that emblems [from trays] were cutting down, but how it will be in question. We are not doing anything like that yet. ”

A week before the opening of McDonald's employees in groups, information about the sleeping of the letter M with baseball caps began to appear . Immediately searched for ways to remove branded M from trays. “We rubbed the sandpaper, for eight hours 12 trays wrapped,” they share in the comments. According to the observations of the Medusa correspondent, the trays in the Pushkin restaurant opened at the Pushkin restaurant were really old, and the letters M on their reverse side were rubbed. At the same time, in Moscow, the “delicious and point” employees wore the old form of “McDonald's” and black baseball caps without any emblem.

An employee from the Great Luke Irina (the name changed) told Medusa that the opening of their restaurant is planned for the first half of July. While the establishments were closed, she was engaged in dancing, so that "it was not boring to sit at home." After the opening of the “tasty and point” she plans to return to the usual work and expects to increase to the position of an instructor who is engaged in training new employees. According to Irina, some colleagues have already quit “for their own reasons”, but most “want to stay in McDonald's”.

In the center of the hall on Pushkinskaya is a young guy in a red t -shirt. He turned into the Russian flag in such a way that the double -headed eagle closes the buttocks.

- Did you plan to go to the celebration of Russia Day? - asks his correspondent of "Medusa".

- No, it's just to show. There are also foreign journalists - to show the position on McDonald's, ”he explains the meaning of the outfit.

- And what is the position?

- That McDonald's is no more. We have our own, and everything is fine. Let them go further and what they want to do.

The guest's name is Artem, he, according to him, is “engaged in football,” and decided to come to the restaurant on June 12 in order to support acquaintances working here. He generally likes the name of the network.

“Look how fun, how many people are funny people,” says Artem, apparently, referring to one of the options for the new network name, which was offered over the past weeks, “fun and tasty”. - Fun, and point. What else could there be a comma? "

Maria Koroleva