Whether, how and why history repeats itself is often a topic of debate these days, and with good reason. The only thing that is certain is that scenes are occasionally repeated, such as last week in Moscow. There were many people queuing at Pushkin Square to eat a burger. One of the 30 branches of the fast food chain was opened in the city center, which under the name “Lecker und Punkt” replaces the previous stores of the US group McDonald’s at the same locations with the same employees and the same food. Although: with almost the same food.
In any case, McDonald’s closed most of its approximately 850 stores in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and laid off the 62,000 employees. In May, the group announced that it would withdraw completely. This was officially justified with the “humanitarian crisis” in Ukraine. Unofficially, growing calls for a boycott and the withdrawal of other companies may have played a role. The group has sold its branches to the mining and oil entrepreneur Alexander Govor, who has operated 25 branches in Siberia since 2015 and said the nice sentence at the branch opening in Moscow: “It will definitely not be worse than before.”
Whether that’s true remains to be seen. It’s not just the yellow Ms that seem to have disappeared, some of which the employees sanded off the trays themselves. Customers also have to do without the “Big Mac”, as well as the children’s bags “Happy Meal” and “Mc Flurry” ice cream. McDonald’s found these products too defining for the brand to leave them to successors. Much more dramatic, however, is that chips were missing in the first few days. The company explains: There are not enough Russian potatoes and imports are currently not possible for obvious reasons.
Employees work in a newly opened fast food restaurant in a former McDonald’s branch. After McDonald’s closed all of its stores in the country in response to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, stores are reopening under a new, Russian owner.
(Photo: Dmitry Serebryakov/dpa)
And so in this case history repeats itself several times over. In 1990, the opening of a McDonald’s branch was seen as a sign of the rapprochement with the West, “hot food that helped end the Cold War,” as one correspondent put it portrayed at the BBC. Now the closure is seen as a signal again, albeit for the opposite. And again, people are queuing for new types of rolls with a meat topping – presumably also to see whether the company boss’s hope that there is “no difference in quality or atmosphere” will be fulfilled.
Above all, however, the potato once again gained importance in the battle of ideologies. The propaganda lie about alleged beetles that US planes are said to have spread over East German fields in the early 1950s to destroy the potato harvest is legendary. In the present case, among other things, a Russian ministry felt compelled to announce “There are potatoes and period” via social media.
On the part of the new fast food chain, it is said to calm down that with the new harvest in autumn the burger will get its fries back. Bit by bit, more branches are to be opened in the coming months. Incidentally, should things calm down, contrary to all expectations, McDonald’s has secured a buyback right for 15 years. One thing is certain: people will definitely be queuing.