25th Soviet McDs

From the Sudbury Star:
"25 years ago McDonald's invaded the Soviet Union -- and won"

 

Bye-bye borscht. Hello Big Mak. Thus was the lead on a Toronto Sun story back on Feb. 1, 1990, when the very first McDonald's Restaurants Canada dining experience debuted in what was then the Soviet Union. That day, Soviets -- 27,000 of them -- lining up for hours for their very first bite of pure capitalism under the shiny new Golden Arches sign just off Pushkin Square, near Gorky St.

The spanking new restaurant could seat 700 and prices were about twice that of a quick lunch by Moscow standards at that time - a Big "Mak" was selling for 3.75 rubles, a little steep considering the average Soviet wage was 230 rubles, or about $400 a month. It was 25 years ago, but it might as well have been yesterday for George Cohon, founder and CEO of McDonald's Canada. "Twenty-five years ago I had the great pleasure and honour of bringing the world's most-admired and iconic brand to the people of Russia," Cohon said recently, reflecting on those heady days full of fast food, drama and intrigue. "Since that time I have watched with amazement the growth of the McDonald's brand, our people and our guests with more than three billion served since we opened in Pushkin Square."

McDonald's outlets in Russia number in the hundreds since that famous day. "I'm particularly proud of the people story behind the first opening, both from Canada and Russia, learning from each other and working as one team," added Cohon, who later wrote about his adventures in an autobiography, entitled To Russia With Fries. "In those early days, customers lined up for two hours on a daily basis to get into the restaurant," said Sharon Ramalho, senior vice-president for McDonald's Canada, who spent 10 years in Russia starting in 1991 as part of the core team of McDonald's Canada employees to train McDonald's Russia crew. The Moscow-McDonald's initiative was a joint venture between McDonald's of Canada and Moscow city council, a plan first envisioned when Cohon met Soviet officials at the '76 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Today, with McDonald's everywhere, the idea of opening a location in what was once considered home to the Cold War may not raise too many eyebrows. But the idea that Cohon had a vision which took years to achieve bears testament to the man's legacy of knowing exactly how to make dreams come true.

 

^ The above picture isn't didn't come from the article but it is from the first day that McDonald's opened in Moscow, the Soviet Union in 1990. I have been to this McDs - about 10 years after it opened. I also remember going to the one in Yaroslavl (at the time there was only one and now they have several) and treating myself to something "American" at the time I was trying to live as much like an ordinary Russian but even I had to give into weakness at times. McDonalds allowed ordinary Soviets/Russians to see what the West was really all about even when they weren't allowed to leave their own country and see it for themselves. While many things have changed in the past 25 years (the USSR collapsed) the current trend is to go against anything "Western" and McDonald's are being targeted (even the first one was closed for several months.) They are being made the scapegoat of the Russian Government for the current economic collapse that is occurring in Russia because of the annexation of Crimea and Russia supporting the ethnic-Russian terrorists in eastern Ukraine. ^

 

 

 

http://www.thesudburystar.com/2015/01/31/25-years-ago-mcdonalds-invaded-the-soviet-union----and-won