My First Meal in The Rebranded Russian McDonald’s “Vkusno I Tochka”. Is It Still The Same?

The first McDonald’s restaurant in Russia, back the yet in the USSR, was opened on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow in 1990.

6 years after, in 1996, the first McDonald’s was opened in St Petersburg, Russia and then McD started spreading all over the country and grown up to the chain of 850 restaurants.

At the 8th of March, 2022, McDonald’s Corporation at first announce the temporary stop of operation of all of their restaurants owned directly by corporation. That’s about 700 restaurants. Franchise restaurants kept working.

Later, McDonald’s announced they are going away from Russia at all due to their disagreement with the special military operation of Russia in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, McDonald’s Corporation sold all of their Russian restaurants to Alexander Govor, Russian businessman who already had 25 McDonald’s restaurants owned by franchise.

Due to the contract, all McDonald’s restaurants in Russia were sold together with employees, menu, kitchen stuff and supplier contracts, except the original McDonald’s firm style, branding and logo.

But the most interesting option was that McDonald’s Corporation can buy it all back within two years.

As soon as McDonald’s and Alexander Govor signed the contract, the Russian McDonald’s restaurants started to work on the rebranding. The new name turned to be kinda ridiculous - “Vkusno i Tochka” (literally “Tasty and Period”). It is got a lot of criticism - kinda long, not catchy, not sticky and thus kinda ridiculous.

After my first visit to “Vkusno i Tochka” in this video, I got this puzzle all together and figured out why the name seem so intentionally ridiculous.

There is no traditional well-know McDonald’s “M” logo and any “McDonald’s” letterings on the building. But inside of the restaurants there is no any changes of design of interior.

There is some different design of the menu on the screens at the cashiers but the menu is almost totally the same with same names of positions, expect “Mac” in it. Like let’s say, instead of “Chicken McNuggets” there is just “Chicken Nuggets”.

But there is no “BigMac”, or just “Big” at all. McDonald’s prohibited this burger because of a very strong association with McDonald’s.

Also there is no MacCaffe.

But 90% of the menu is still the same.

The real actual taste of the stuff is still the same too. At least, I can confirm it exactly for “Grand de Luxe” burger, French fries, sause and Latte. I believe I ate enough of McDonald’s in my life to say this for sure. My whole recent order looked, smelled and tasted the same.

That’s no wonder. All the same employees who kept being paid while McDonald’s restaurants were stopped got back to work and in the same restaurants on the same kitchen equipment keep making all the same stuff from the same raw materials.

My conclusion that the new name of McDonald’s restaurant in Russia is intentionally ridiculous.

The “sale” of Russian McDonald’s restaurant was not the real sale but some kind of deal in order to save all McDonald’s property in one hands of Alexander Govor, the biggest franchiser of Russian McDonald’s and Oleg Paroev, the General Manager of McDonald’s Russia who now turned to be the General Manager of “Vkusno i Tochka”.

So, Russian property of McDonald’s stayed exceptionally in the hands of key personalities of McDonald’s in Russia.

This is a smart move for McDonald’s from one side to keep holding their virtue signal, from another side to keep their Russian actives under control that later to get back in a very short time.

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