On its first anniversary, on Jan. 31, 1991, Moscow McDonald’s had to cancel its celebration due to political turmoil. Its single massive, glittering restaurant on Pushkin Square was operating under nightmare circumstances. The USSR was disintegrating, its economy about to implode amidst hyperinflation. From the Kremlin, just a couple of kilometers down the uncleared black-ice sidewalks of Gorky Street, the winds of a renewed Cold War and anti-business sentiment were blowing.
On its 20th anniversary, tomorrow, McDonald’s Russian operation stands as a spectacular success, a monument to persistence and an astonishing corporate organization. There are now 245 McDonald’s restaurants in Russia serving 800,000 people daily. Pushkin Square alone has now served some 130 million customers (close to the population of Russia) and the company plans to open 45 new restaurants this year. It now has 25,000 employees and is responsible for another 100,000 jobs among its suppliers. This is all the more remarkable because although Russia has changed immeasurably in the past 20 years, there are still cold winds blowing from the Kremlin.
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