McDonald's replacement in Russia reveals new logo

The first 15 of the new restaurants will open on June 12

A hamburger and two potato fries feature on the logo of a new restaurant chain, after McDonald's decision to sell its restaurants in Russia to one of its local licensees that will rebrand them under aShow more

A new fast-food service that is to replace McDonald's restaurants in Russia has unveiled its logo after the departure of the company from the country.

Western businesses have exited the Russian market as a result of Moscow's military offensive in Ukraine.

McDonald's announced last month that it was exiting the country. Its chain of restaurants is now being managed by a company called Sistema PBO, Russia's state news agency Tass reported.

The trademark will depict two sticks of yellow fried potatoes and a yellow orange burger, a Sistema PBO representative said.

“The green background of the logo symbolises the quality of products and service that our guests are accustomed to,” the representative was quoted as saying by the news agency.

“The logo will be used in the advertising campaign that we are launching today.”

The name of the new chain has yet to be approved.

McDonald's, which owned about 84 per cent of its 847 restaurants in Russia, said in May that it had reached a deal to sell its business in the country to Russian businessman Alexander Govor, a licensee of the chain.

The world's largest burger chain accounted for 7 per cent of the food service market in Russia, according to Tass.

The fast-food chain said at the time that it employed 62,000 workers and that its business in Russia was “no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald's values”.

It announced plans to take a one-time charge of $1.2 billion to $1.4bn to write off the investment.

Sistema PBO will operate under a new brand and with new menu names, with all McDonald's employees retaining their jobs “under equivalent terms” for at least two years, Tass reported.

The first 15 of the new, post-McDonald's outlets will open in Moscow and the Moscow region on June 12, the news agency said.

After McDonald's decision to close its shops in March, several American brands including Starbucks, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola followed suit, scrambling to comply with sanctions amid threats from the Kremlin that foreign-owned assets could be seized.