The fast-food chain, which has around 850 restaurants and 62,000 employees in the country, announced it was withdrawing from Russia on May 16 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The former restaurants in Russia of the McDonald’s group, which announced its departure after more than 30 years of presence in reaction to the conflict in Ukraine, have been renamed “Vkousno i tochka” (Delicious. Dot) by their new Russian owner.

“The new name is ‘Vkusno i tochka’, said during a press conference the general manager of the Russian group Oleg Paroïev, while its owner Alexandre Govor assured that the 51,000 former employees of McDonald’s across Russia would keep their jobs.

The “showcase” restaurant under the Russian flag is due to open at 12 p.m. local time on Sunday in Pushkin Square, Moscow, but a few others have already opened, according to Russian agencies. Pushkin Square is the historic restaurant where the first McDonald’s opened in January 1990, just under two years before the collapse of the USSR.

The mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, visited this emblematic restaurant on Sunday morning, assuring on Telegram messaging that “the quality of service would remain the same”. A total of fifteen outlets are due to open in the Russian capital on Sunday. Oleg Paroïev clarified that the prices of the hamburgers would be slightly higher than those charged by the American chain due to inflation in Russia, while ensuring that they would remain “affordable”.

The new sign has a totally different logo : on a green background, a red circle accompanied by two orange bars (representing a hamburger and fries). Most of the recipes, however, seem to be preserved. A cosmetic change that leaves the door open to a return of the American group once the conflict in Ukraine has passed. According to the agreement made with its buyer, McDonald’s remains the owner of its brand in Russia and has an option to buy back its restaurants within 15 years.