The Ukrainian capital of Kyiv has something ahead of the Russian capital of Moscow: Three branches of the fast-food chain McDonald’s will reopen there – first of all the delivery service and the service in the drive-through. The restaurants had been closed since the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Alesya Mudzhyri, head of corporate communications at McDonald’s in Ukraine, confirmed the reopening on her Facebook profile on Monday.
The branches are to be reopened gradually. The first three restaurants will open in Kyiv, with another seven to follow in a week. There will then be reopenings in various cities in the west of the country. First, there will be a delivery service, which will be taken over by Glovo. From October, the McDonald’s branches should switch to normal restaurant operations from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Mudzhyri also writes in her social media post that “the reopened restaurants will be run to the same high standards of food quality, cleanliness and speed of service as before”. There will also be a safety protocol in place to ensure the protection of customers and employees During an air raid, the branch will be closed to allow people to go to nearby emergency shelters, so open and paid orders should be completed quickly in such a case before the devices have to be switched off.
The Ukrainians are very happy about the small piece of normality. In the comments on the communication manager’s contribution, people reacted consistently positively. Many offer their congratulations or ask which restaurant will reopen next.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, McDonald’s decided to pull out of the country entirely. The 825 branches were bought by a Russian businessman and reopened under the new name “Vkusno i tochka” (delicious, period) and with a renamed menu.
However, there were problems in the restaurants shortly after they opened: due to western sanctions and a poor potato harvest in 2021, fries could no longer be served in several ex-McDonald’s branches. Potato dishes should not be available again until autumn, after the next potato harvest.
Source: McDonald’s on Facebook
