Russia’s McDonald’s replacement outperforms original – owner

Fast-food chain Vkusno i Tochka, which took over from McDonald’s in Russia after the US chain opted to leave the market, has outperformed the original, the group’s owner Aleksandr Govor said earlier this week.

Vkusno i Tochka, which roughly means ‘Just Tasty,’ has seen more than 500 million visits over the past year, according to Govor, who revealed plans to open 50 more outlets by the end of the current year, and to expand the chain into remote cities that had been out of reach of the US fast food brand.

“At of the end of May 2023, our share among the three major fast-food players amounted to 58%,” Govor said, speaking at a press conference devoted to the first anniversary of the rebranded chain.

“This exceeds the best performance of our predecessor [McDonald’s] and the combined share of our two main competitors [Burger King and KFC],” he added.

According to the businessman, the impressive results were achieved thanks to the rapid refurbishment of the menu and key services.

The US fast-food giant decided to quit Russia in March 2022 due to intense international pressure after Russia launched the military operation in neighboring Ukraine. By June 2022, all the McDonald’s outlets had been sold to the company’s local licensee Aleksander Govor, who renamed the food chain Vkusno i Tochka and completely rebranded it.

Over the past year, Vkusno i Tochka has reportedly rebranded more than 860 outlets throughout the country and has served over 400 million burgers and 200 million portions of fries. The company claims to have daily traffic of around 1.8 million visitors.

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