McDonald's To Ramp Up Presence In Russia
Published:01-February-2010
By Staff Reporter
McDonald's has revealed plans to invest around $135m to enhance and expand its Russian operations and open 45 more outlets in the country beginning this year through 2012.
The restaurant chain, which currently employs around 25,000 people in Russia and generates on average 100 new jobs for local people with set up of each new restaurant, has plans to increase the speed of growth by 20%, with an anticipated generation of around 4500 new job for locals.
George Cohon, founder of McDonald's Canada and Russia, said: "What started as a casual conversation led to years of negotiations and culminated in the opening of the first McDonald's in Russia. Initially people were skeptical about whether McDonald's would work in Russia; I'm very proud to say that since opening 20 years ago, we have served more than two billion customers, which is a testament to the great work and dedication of our Russian employees."
According to Khamzat Khasbulatov, president of McDonald's Russia, the company has 245 restaurants in Russia in around 60 cities across the country. At present, McDonald's Russia restaurants purchases most of their raw ingredients from independent Russian suppliers.
McDonald's opened its first restaurant in the Soviet Union on January 31, 1990. Russia forms a priority area for investment this year as part of the chain's $1.2bn development strategy for Europe, where it currently has some 6,600 outlets and would open another 250 this year, said Jim Skinner, chief operations officer of the chain.
