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In 1990 McDonalds got a permission from the Communist Party of Soviet Union to open its first restaurant in Soviet Russia in Pushkin Square, Moscow. It was not only the first McDonalds, but generally the first fast food place in Russia ever. Everyone wanted to visit this ‘pearl of capitalism’, so there were literally mile-long queues of diners. With 27 cash registers and seating 700, Moscow-McDonald’s was for a long time one of the brand’s busiest branches in the world.

According to information from the time, the expansion of McDonald’s Canada to Russia was accomplished after thirteen years of difficult negotiations and an investment of $50 million. What’s more, profits were split 50-50 between the company and the Russian government. Business was conducted entirely in Russian rubles that were nearly worthless outside the country, so to take any profit out of Russia McDonald’s would have had to buy Russian products with rubles and then export them to Europe or North America for sale. In fact, the company spent the rubles to buy farmland and put up office towers, a distribution center and a factory in the Moscow suburbs. In 1993, the company built its first office building, just two blocks from the Kremlin and tenants like Coca-Cola and Upjohn moved in.

According to a publication called The Agribusiness Examiner:

‘McDonald’s here [in Russia] has been able to avoid some problems that have troubled it in the West. The “Super Size Me” controversy, and accusations that fast-food chains like McDonald’s promote obesity, are not issues for Russians, some of whom demand mayonnaise with 40% fat content. Nor does McDonald’s low pay seem to bother many here – Russian wages average $250 a month. Some even argue that McDonald’s is identified in the public mind with glasnost and perestroika, the policies of openness and restructuring under Mikhail S. Gorbachev in the final years of the Soviet Union.’

Do you remember McDonald’s-Moscow opening?

Images courtesy of  English Russia.com

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