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Vkusno i tochka

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Vkusno i tochka
Native name
Вкусно — и точка
Company typePrivate
IndustryRestaurant
GenreFast food
PredecessorMcDonald's Russia
(1990–2022)
Founded31 January 1990; 34 years ago (1990-01-31) in Moscow, Soviet Union (as McDonald's)
12 June 2022; 2 years ago (2022-06-12) in Moscow (as Vkusno i tochka)
FounderAlexander Govor
Headquarters26 Valovaya Street,
Moscow
,
Russia
Number of locations
875[1]
Area served
Russia
Belarus (as Mak.by)
Kazakhstan (as I'm)
Key people
Oleg Paroyev (CEO)
ServicesMaster franchise
OwnerAlexander Govor
SubsidiariesKSB Victory Restaurants (in Belarus)
Food Solutions KZ (in Kazakhstan)
Websitevkusnoitochka.ru

Vkusno i tochka (Russian: Вкусно – и точка, IPA: [ˈfkusnə i ˈtotɕkə], lit. 'Tasty & that's it')[2][3][4][5][a] is a Russian fast food chain based in former McDonald's restaurants, with a menu that largely consists of rebranded McDonald's items. McDonald's closed their Russian stores in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine; Vkusno i tochka restaurants mostly occupy former McDonald's restaurants that were sold to business magnate and entrepreneur Alexander Govor, who was a company licensee in Siberia.[6][7][8][9][10]

The first restaurants in Russia were opened on 12 June 2022.[11]

History

Opening of the first Vkusno i tochka restaurant in Pushkin Square, Moscow, 12 June 2022. Formerly the first Russian McDonald's in the country.

On 8 March 2022, facing continued pressure due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, McDonald's announced the temporary suspension of operation of its restaurants in Russia, while also announcing at the same time that it would continue to pay its employees in the country.[12][13] The restaurants were taken over by the CEO of McDonald's Russia, Oleg Paroyev, and remained open as of mid-March 2022.

On 16 May 2022, the company decided to leave Russia altogether.[14] On 27 May 2022, it was reported that McDonald's was selling its stores in Russia to a local licensee, Alexander Govor. Patent filings showed "Fun and Tasty" and "The Same One" as some of the possible brand names for the firm taking over McDonald's in Russia.[15] Shortly after the announcement, the company replaced the McDonald's logo in favor of their own logo.[16] The new name of the chain was later announced as Vkusno i tochka (Russian: Вкусно — и точка), translated as "Tasty and that's it".[2][17] The legal entity remained the same but was renamed from McDonald's LLC to PBO System LLC, with Oleg Paroyev remaining as CEO.[18]

On 12 June 2022, the restaurant chain reopened 15 restaurants in Moscow.[3] The next day, the restaurant chain reopened 50 more restaurants in Moscow and the wider Moscow region.[19] McDonald's has a 15-year option to buy its former restaurants back from [Vkusno i tochka.[20]

On 8 July 2022, RBK reported citing the company's press service that some restaurants would stop selling French fries and potato dishes due to a poor harvest the previous year, possibly until fall.[21]

Construction of a new Vkusno i tochka restaurant in Tyumen, May 2023

Alexander Govor confirmed that Vkusno i tochka maintains regular contacts with McDonald's.[22][23]

Expansion

Southeastern Ukraine

Following the Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts of Ukraine in September 2022, the three 2014-era Russian-backed replacements for McDonald's in Crimea (RusBurger), Donetsk (DonMak), and Luhansk (Mc) were rebranded into Vkusno i tochka restaurants.

Belarus

Mak.by

In November 2022, it was announced that McDonald's was leaving Belarus on 22 November and the Russian fast food chain Vkusno i tochka would take its place.[24][25] However, this did not happen, and the operations of McDonald's was extended until 27 November; since then, the restaurants operated under the sign "We are open!" (Russian: Мы открыты!, IPA: [ˌmɨ aˈtkrɨtɨ ||]) [26][27][28]

In early April 2023, KSB Victory Restaurants (operators of McDonald's in the country, (Russian: КСБ Виктори Рестораны, IPA: [kˌɑˌɛsbˈɛ vʲiktˈorʲɪ rʲistʌrˈɑny])) filed an application for registration of the name and trademark "Mak.by".[29] On April 18, 2023, the restaurant chain was renamed Mak.by.[30][31]

Kazakhstan

My otkryty (2023)

In January 2023, McDonald's closed its restaurants in Kazakhstan, believed to be due to supply issues, with its restaurants, operated by Food Solutions KZ, later rebranded to My otkryty.[32] Since August, the network had operated under different names, based on the names of company employees. On November 23, they were rebranded to I'm.[33]

Vkusno i tochka will not work under its brand in Kazakhstan due to the terms of the contract with McDonald's.[34] However, Vkusno i tochka applied to register its brand name.[35]

China and Abkhazia

In June and September 2023, respectively, it was reported the company is eyeing opening up restaurants in Abkhazia and mainland China, for expansion.[36][37]

Menu in a Vkusno i tochka restaurant in Moscow

At the initial stage of the opening, the restaurants did not carry every menu item that they had originally planned for due to supply chain issues and packaging logistics. According to the quality manager Alexander Merkulov, the dishes contain the same ingredients and are made with the same equipment as when McDonald's operated the restaurants, but are served with different packaging.[38]

In 2022, Vkusno i tochka started selling shrimp in all of its restaurants (despite some locations having previously sold shrimp before the conversion).

Due to some restrictions, Vkusno i tochka did not serve its equivalent to the Big Mac (The Big Hit) until February 2023, after the sauce and composition were modified to avoid infriging on McDonald's trademarks.[39][40] Due to The Coca-Cola Company's departure from Russia, supplies for Coca-Cola were running low as of June 2022.[41] In September, Vkusno i tochka replaced Coca-Cola brand drinks with analogous drinks of the brand Dobry (which is also produced by the Russian subsidiary of Coca-Cola HBC).[42]

Front counter in a Vkusno i tochka restaurant in Novosibirsk. The Big Hit can be seen on one of the television screens above.

As of November 2023, the chain serves the following items (the McDonald's items they replace are in parentheses):[43]

  • Hamburger, Cheeseburger and Double Cheeseburger
  • Big Hit (Big Mac) and Double Big Hit
  • Grand Burger (Quarter Pounder with Cheese / McRoyal), Double Grand Burger and Grand Deluxe Burger (Quarter Pounder with Cheese Deluxe)
  • Big Special (Big Tasty), Double Big Special, Big Special Junior, Big Special Spicy Mix and Big Chicken Burger (Big Tasty Chicken)
  • Fishburger (Filet-O-Fish) and Double Fishburger
  • Chickenburger (Junior Chicken), Chicken Hit (McChicken), Chicken Hit with Mushrooms, Chicken Premier (Seriously Chicken) and Chicken Premier with Mushrooms
  • Scandinavian Burger, Scandinavian Burger with chicken
  • Caesar Roll (McWrap), Big Special Roll, Shrimp Roll, Fresh Roll and Chicken Fresh Roll
  • French Fries, Grand Fries, Potato wedges and Potato slices
  • Chicken nuggets, chicken strips, mozzarella dippers, cheese rings, shrimp, apple slices and carrot sticks
  • Vegetable salad, Caesar salad and Caesar salad with shrimp
  • Dobry Cola (Coca-Cola), Dobry Cola Zero Sugar (Coca-Cola Zero Sugar), Dobry Orange (Fanta), Dobry Lemon-Lime (Sprite), Lipton Ice Tea Lemon, Lipton Ice Tea Green, Hot Punch, milkshake, sundae, Ice Deluxe (McFlurry), tea, coffee and juice
  • Kids Combo (Happy Meal)
  • Breakfast pancakes, omelet, cherry pie and Norwegian berry pie
  • Food in packages
    Food in packages
  • Burger, fries, and drink
    Burger, fries, and drink
  • French fries
    French fries
  • Potato wedges
    Potato wedges
  • Terminals
    Terminals
  • Аnimated menu
    Аnimated menu
  • Sauce packets (2022–2023); Initially, Vkusno i tochka sold the remaining stock of McDonald's Sauce packets and some locations would also scribble out the m from the packets with a marker.
    Sauce packets (2022–2023); Initially, Vkusno i tochka sold the remaining stock of McDonald's Sauce packets and some locations would also scribble out the m from the packets with a marker.
  • Sauce packets (2023 onwards); as of 2023, the Sauce packets now come with the Vkusno i tochka logo.
    Sauce packets (2023 onwards); as of 2023, the Sauce packets now come with the Vkusno i tochka logo.

Controversies and criticisms

Logo and name

Since the opening of the restaurant chain, many users of the social networks VKontakte and Twitter didn't like the name "Tasty - and that's it", some users reported that the variant of the name "Uncle Vanya" was not so bad.[44] Critics of the new logo have noted its similarity to the logo of Marriott International, which also operates in Russia. For example, some said that the logo looks like "the logo of the Marriott hotel combined with the Flag of Bangladesh."[45] On the opening day, a protester held up a banner: "Bring back Big Mac!". He was quickly removed from the scene.[45][46]

According to Nikolai Grigoriev, member of the Board of the Guild of Marketeers, the name of the fast food chain will not take root among consumers, he believes that the network may soon be renamed due to inconvenience of the name:

It's a long name. Imagine a young man telling another: «Let's go to "Tasty and that's it."». Here the simplest analogy is Sber. They just shortened it, or, to say more precisely, officially instated it.

External image
image icon Сравнение логотипов «Вкусно — и точка» и «Matosmix» (comparing the logos of «Vkusno — i tochka» and «Matosmix»; archived on 17 June 2022)

According to the marketeer, the old name "McDonald's" will soon disappear from the lexicon of the Russian consumers, and, to not pronounce the long phrase, clients of the chain will make up their own. On 13 June, various messages appeared claiming that the logo of Vkusno i tochka is a lazy alteration of a Portuguese pet food brand "Matosmix".[47]

On 15 June, the director of a fast food chain known as "Food, full stop" (Russian: Еда и точка) in Primorski Krai, Sergei Ponkratov, accused the new chain of plagiarism and decided to sue it, demanding a change of the name. He claims that the Vkusno i tochka brand clearly intersects with and deprives his trademark, which has been operating since 2018, of uniqueness and recognizability.[48][49]

Problems with food

On 3 July, a customer of one of the Vkusno i tochka restaurants of the Khoroshyovo-Mnyovniki District complained about a burger with mold. The press office of the chain said that they had started an investigation into the moldy bun and contacted the manufacturer to clarify the circumstances of the incident.[50][51]

On 4 July, the Telegram channel of Ksenia Sobchak, "Bloody mistress" (Russian: Кровавая барыня), reported that the chain's restaurant in Arbat "serves potatoes with cheese sauces that were expired by one day". The press office of Vkusno i tochka claimed that all the sauces were double-checked, "only a small part was expired, it has already been removed from sale... We are additionally checking the sauces in other enterprises so that this does not happen again." There was also an incident in Altufyevo, which was connected with restaurant production: buns, lying on a tray on the street, were eaten by crows and pigeons.[51][52] In response, the press office of Vkusno i tochka said that the buns were bird food, noting that "Quality and safety of production is our main priority. The video captured the process of unloading. All upper bun trays, regardless of damage, were decommissioned."[53] In addition, users of Twitter complained that insect parts have been found in burgers at Vkusno i tochka.[50]

In July 2022, some restaurants of the chain said they would temporarily stop serving fries due to a shortage of the correct potato variety.[54]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The website has long been known under the name Skoro tut budut burgery (Russian: Скоро тут будут бургеры, lit. 'Soon there will be burgers here').

References

  1. ^ "Мы на карте". Vkusno i tochka. 9 July 2022. Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Vkusno i tochka: McDonald's restaurants reopen in Russia under new name". Reuters. 12 June 2022. Archived from the original on 12 June 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  3. ^ a b Roth, Andrew (12 June 2022). "McDonald's restaurants in Russia reopen under new brand". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  4. ^ "Russia's McDonald's successor, Tasty-period, opens in Moscow". Associated Press. 13 June 2022. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Photos: 'Tasty-period' – Russian McDonald's reopens in Moscow". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  6. ^ Lucas, Amelia (19 May 2022). "McDonald's to sell Russian business to existing Siberian licensee". CNBC. Archived from the original on 6 September 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  7. ^ Андрей Абрамов, Абдулла Шакиров (12 June 2022). "Объявлено новое название "Макдональдса" в России". Комсомольская правда. Archived from the original on 12 June 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
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  20. ^ "Mcdonald's will have a 15-year option to buy its restaurants in Russia back". Reuters. 2 June 2022. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
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  26. ^ "Рестораны McDonald's в Минске продолжают работу в прежнем формате". 22 November 2022. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
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  33. ^ Панченко, Татьяна (23 November 2023). "Бывшие рестораны McDonald's в Казахстане переименовали третий раз за год". www.forbes.kz. Archived from the original on 23 November 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
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  39. ^ ""Биг Мак" вернулся — с новым именем и черным кунжутом. Мы его попробовали". РБК Life. Archived from the original on 12 March 2023. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  40. ^ https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/12/12/russia-vkusno-tochka-big-hit
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  42. ^ Лааксо, Полина (13 September 2022). ""Вкусно — и точка" заменит Coca-Cola напитками "Добрый cola" — Еда на vc.ru". vc.ru. Archived from the original on 28 October 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  43. ^ "Меню доступное в сети предприятий быстрого обслуживания". skoro-tut-budut-burgers.ru. Archived from the original on 22 June 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  44. ^ Елена Горшкова (12 June 2022). "В соцсетях раскритиковали новое название McDonalds". Ура.ру. Archived from the original on 4 February 2024. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  45. ^ a b Martin Belam (10 June 2022). "Burger and two fries? Russia unveils logo as it replaces McDonald's". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 June 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
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  49. ^ Ольга Беляева (15 June 2022). "Приморская сеть "Еда и точка" собирается судиться с новым российским "Макдоналдсом" за название" (in Russian). E1.ru. Archived from the original on 4 February 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
  50. ^ a b "Во Вкусно и точка нашли просроченный соус и плесень. На видео булочки ворует ворона". Medialeaks. 4 July 2022. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  51. ^ a b ""Вкусно — и точка" ответила на сообщения о булках с плесенью и голубях" (in Russian). РБК. 4 July 2022. Archived from the original on 30 September 2022. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  52. ^ Иван Рябов (4 July 2022). "Во "Вкусно — и точка" ответили на сообщения о плесневелых бургерах" (in Russian). Секрет фирмы. Archived from the original on 9 July 2022. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  53. ^ ""Вкусно — и точка" прокомментировала инцидент с клюющими булки голубями" (in Russian). РИА Новости. 6 July 2022. Archived from the original on 20 October 2022. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  54. ^ "Russia's McDonald's replacement runs low on fries". BBC News. 9 July 2022. Archived from the original on 6 September 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
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