Former McDonald's restaurants in Moscow have reopened under a new name, Vkusno & tochka ("Delicious and so"), a renaming aimed at comforting Russians that they can continue to live a Western lifestyle.
McDonald's announced its withdrawal from the Russian market in May, saying it would sell 850 restaurants due to the occupation of Ukraine. On Sunday, the new Russian fast food chain that bought McDonald's, opened the first 15 restaurants in Moscow. Vkusno & tochka plans to finally reopen all 850 restaurants.
At a grand opening in Moscow's Pushkin Square, the restaurant appeared to be a deliberate replica of McDonald's. "The name changes, love remains", was written in the slogan of the new restaurant. The expressions sewn on the employees' uniforms read: "The same smile".
The name has been greeted with surprise and ridicule. McDonald's copies are not a new trend. A McDonald's in Russian-occupied Donetsk was renamed DonMak after the city was occupied after the start of the war in 2014.
