McDonald’s exit from Russia is loss of powerful symbol

Two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, another powerful symbol opened in the center of Moscow: a new McDonald’s.

It was the first American fast food restaurant to open in the Soviet Union, reflecting the new political openness of the era. For Vlad Vexler, who at the age of 9 was waiting two hours that day to enter that McDonald’s in Moscow’s Pushkin Square in January 1990, the place was a symbol of his imagined Western utopia.

“We thought that life there was magical, that there were no problems there,” Vexler recounted.

So it was very emotional when McDonald’s announced that it would temporarily close that Moscow location, as well as 850 others across Russia, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“That McDonald’s is a symbol of an optimism that ultimately never came true,” said Vexler, now an author and political philosopher living in London.

“Now that Russia is entering a period of contraction, isolation and poverty, one looks back on those moments and wonders what could have been,” he added.

McDonald’s said in a statement that “at this time, it is impossible to predict when we will be able to reopen our branches in Russia.” However, it will continue to pay its 62,500 Russian employees. The company estimates that the closure will cost it about $50 million a month.

Outside a McDonald’s in Moscow last week, student Lev Shalpo lamented the closure.

“I think it’s terrible because it’s the only place I could pay to eat,” said the young man.

Just as the entry of McDonald’s paved the way for the arrival in Russia of many other foreign companies, its departure caused the exodus of several companies. Starbucks closed its 130 locations, while Yum Brands closed its 70 KFC locations and was negotiating the closure of 50 Pizza Huts.

McDonald’s entry into the Soviet Union originated from a chance encounter. In 1976, McDonald’s lent buses to the organizers of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, who were visiting the Olympic venues in Montreal, Canada. George Cohon, then director of McDonald’s Canada, took the delegation to a McDonald’s as part of the tour. That same night, the delegation began talking about ways to open a franchise in the Soviet Union.

Fourteen years later, after the Soviet Union changed its laws and McDonald’s established relationships with local farmers, it opened Moscow’s first McDonald’s. It was, at the time, quite a sensation.

In its debut, the 27 cashiers at that McDonald’s recorded 30,000 sales. Vexler and his grandmother waited in line with thousands of other people to enter the 700-seat venue, which featured traditional Russian musicians and characters dressed as Mickey Mouse.

“The sentiment was, ‘Let’s see how Westerners do things better. Let’s see what a healthy society can offer us,’” Vexler recalled.