After several big companies including Nestle, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Netflix suspended their Russia operations after the country’s invasion of Ukraine in February, American fast-food giant McDonald’s has also jumped on the wagon.
The fast-food giant announced on Monday that it will leave the Russian market and sell its business in the increasingly isolated country after 3 decades of operations there. French automaker Renault also announced to hand over its Russian assets to the government in Moscow earlier in the day.
After more than 30 years of operations in the country, McDonald’s Corporation announced it has initiated a process to sell its Russian business. In a statement, the company added, “The humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, and the precipitating unpredictable operating environment, have led McDonald’s to conclude that continued ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald’s values.”
The latest move comes around 2 months after McDonald’s shut down all of its 850 restaurants in the country in March. McD said it was looking to sell “its entire portfolio of McDonald’s restaurants in Russia to a local buyer”.
After the sale is complete, the restaurants would no longer be able to use the McDonald’s name, logo, branding or menu. McDonald’s chief executive Chris Kempczinski said, “We entered Russia because of the hope and promise our brand came to signify. For three decades, our presence in Russia inspired adages that went beyond our food — from “burger diplomacy” to a “McDonald’s peace theory”— and embodied the greater purpose and impact that brands like ours can have in the world.”
“McDonald’s in Russia embodied the very notion of glasnost and took on outsized significance, he added.
Russians welcomed McDonald’s into their daily lives, their families, and their friendships. McDonald’s became an integral part of Russia, serving millions of Russians every day across eleven time zones and 850 communities. And we embraced Russia, Kempczinski added.
Today, the fast-food major employs over 60,000 people in its restaurants. “We have a commitment to our global community and must remain steadfast in our values. And our commitment to our values means that we can no longer keep the Arches shining there,” the CEO highlighted.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into pro-Western Ukraine, triggering unprecedented Western sanctions against Russia.
