Russian version of McDonald's "Full Moon", happy and worried

Customers pick up meals in the "only delicious" store. Li Linjia Photo

After one month of operation, the "only delicious" customer traffic basically returned to the same period of McDonald's operation. The picture shows customers ordering before the buffet ordering machine. Li Linjia Photo

Editor's words: The Russian version of McDonald's "only delicious" has been opened for one month until the 12th. One month ago, the iconic "golden arch" signature of the chain fast food brand McDonald's brand was taken off, and it was renamed "only delicious". Moscow's first "only delicious" opened the threshold for customers on the first day of opening. This is regarded as an iconic test of Russia's response to Western sanctions. Over the past month, Russia has opened more than 200 stores one after another on the original site of McDonald's. Can consumers pass the enthusiasm for "Russian version of McDonald's"? How far can Western brands go to Russia to reshape? Can more "Russian McDonald's" model go in Russia? "Global Times" reporters followed up the investigation.

Reporter Li Linjia, a reporter in Russia, reporter Yang Shasha

"Big Special" replaced "Big Delicious"

Russia's largest McDonald's store is located in Pushkin Plaza in the center of Moscow, which can accommodate nearly 1,000 customers. On the day of the reopening on June 12, customers lined up outside the store since the early morning. One month later, the Global Times reporter went to go again at noon on the weekend, and this time there is no need to line up.

The store is spacious and bright, there are many customers, but there are still sufficient space. The inner wall is decorated with green logo, and the self -service ordering machine screen is replaced with "red and green and yellow" color matching. Employee clothing and food packaging are very simple. It has not yet been printed with the "burger+fries strip" logo. Before coming, the reporter saw that some netizens evaluated the McDonald's service after "Russianization". As we all know, the Russians are unsmiling, and some people say that the seller often hangs the four characters "love or not buy". However, in the store, the reporter saw that the employees were very enthusiastic and friendly. When I saw the reporter studying the pure text menu for a long time, they took the initiative to take the reporter to order before the self -service ordering machine.

The menu in the store has changed. Several foods involving McDonald's copyright have disappeared. The new "Big Special" replaced the "Big Tasty". More alternative. In addition, the price of a single dish is generally rising by 2-15 rubles (10 rubles or about 1.12 yuan). For example, cherry school and cheese burger are 9 rubles more expensive than before. In the context of inflation, it is not surprising that the price of "Russian McDonald's" increased by 10%.

The reporter ordered a "big special burger" package with fries and apple juice, which cost a total of 371 rubles, about RMB 42. The employees in the store told reporters that 120,000 burgers sold on the day of the first restaurant opened, setting a record. As the new store opened more and more, people were curious. The grand occasion at the gate of the subway station cannot be compared. But in general, the sales volume is quite considerable. The reporter went to another "only delicious" at the Southwest Metro Station of Moscow at 11 o'clock at night. At that time, customers were still endless. The front desk also told reporters, "Now the passenger flow is at the medium level before the restaurant is renamed, and the name has changed, but people's love has not changed."

Behind "Potato Waste"

Since the launch of the "Russian version of McDonald's", the most criticized by netizens is the new brand name. "Only delicious" is considered "not simple enough" and "getting too grass rate" on social networking sites, which is more like a slogan, not a brand name. "McDonald's" Russian reading only has one word, but "only delicious" is composed of 3 words, which is not conducive to spreading and memory. According to Russia's "Business News", 77.8%of the respondents believe that the brand's name is unsuccessful. Some netizens believe that the new name is very interesting, and people just do not adapt to this change.

In terms of formula, 99%of McDonald's raw materials in Russia rely on local supply, and "Russian McDonald's" basically follows traditional raw materials and formulas. An employee who worked in the restaurant kitchen said, "It was still the batch of employees and technologies, and Russian suppliers did not leave. Those who said that coffee and burgers changed the taste is simply nonsense."

"Only delicious" company said, "Although 99%of the raw materials are supplied from Russia, some semi -finished products need to be imported from Uruguay and Paraguay. Coffee and lecithin produced bread comes from foreign suppliers." 1%import dependence can also cause lethality. Recently, Russia has begun to make "potato shortage". In Russia, KFC has canceled online sales of medium and large fries since last week. "Only delicious" has also been announced recently that due to the apology of the potato last year, some restaurants will cancel the fried fries, and they will return to the menu after the autumn potatoes will be harvested this year. Krasekov, Executive Director of the Russian Potato Alliance, said, "The potato varieties used for fries are special. Although it is planted in Russia, the seeds are imported from Belgium and Poland. Border between Poland and Belarus ". In order to reduce dependence on imports, Russia has begun to cultivate new potato varieties.

In addition, "only delicious" scandals in the "food deterioration" scandal last week. Some restaurants in Moscow discovered the moldy burger bag and expired cheese sauce. They questioned that the food was unhealthy and the new brands failed to maintain the original level of McDonald's. The restaurant public relations stated that all the sauces have been checked, and a small number of expired foods have been removed. Zhang Hong, a researcher at the Eastern European Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times reporter on the 14th that there is no shortage of food raw materials in the Russian market. Therefore, short -term potato shortages, 1%meat, etc. Essence Zhang Hong believes that for a month of operation, in fact, it can be seen that Russian enterprises have stabilized the process of "McDonald's decoupling", solved the employment problem of local employees, and pursued higher in all aspects of food quality and services.

The next is "Russian Starbucks"?

Western brands such as Starbucks, IKEA, Coca -Cola and other Western brands who have quit the Russian market before, can it be reshaped through the brand and open the Russian market as a local brand? According to the "Russian Bulletin" recently reported, Starbucks is eager to try that the brand has found buyers for its business in Russia. The new owner is likely to be the founder of the Russian catering company "Pingsek", Anton Pingski, but the trading conditions are better than McDonald's. More stringent, new brands cannot use any Starbucks products and technologies. In view of the excellent resumes of Hiraki, many people are very optimistic about him and believe that they can copy and even surpass the success of "Russian version of McDonald's". In addition, KFC is also very likely to follow McDonald's footsteps to "renamed names and surnames" in Russia.

Zhang Hong believes that for the "Russian version of McDonald's", there is not much business problem in the short term, but for more Russian companies that take over Western companies, the biggest challenge facing in the future is corporate culture. Not so harsh, but paying great attention to profits, Western companies are pursuing very high details such as services, and temporarily losing money to make money, but they do not care. Therefore, the "Russian version of McDonald's '' future service and food quality can remain high. It depends on how Russia is how Russia Keep a better corporate culture. " Secondly, Russia lacks large -scale catering companies with competitiveness and has suffered Western sanctions outside. For this semi -closed market, how to maintain competitiveness with "Russian McDonald's" requires a longer -term plan.

Zhang Hong said that the Western sanctions on Russia may last for a long time, but Russia needs to maintain an open market mentality and innovative vitality, leaving the West, as well as markets such as the East and South, which can communicate with each other. ▲

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