Goodbye Golden Arches: McDonald's to reopen in Russia with new logo

McDonald’s restaurants plan to reopen in Russia on Sunday after the company rebranded its logo and changed ownership, after it closed because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

The new McDonald’s will open on Russian day, a patriotic holiday celebrating the country’s independence. 

The first store to reopen will be the chain’s flagship location at Moscow’s Pushkin Square, where the first McDonald’s opened in Russia in 1990 after the fall of the Soviet Union. Fourteen other stores will also reopen in the region. 

McDonald’s closed nearly 850 restaurants in Russia after the Kremlin invaded Ukraine on February 24, making it the largest global band to exit Russia. 

Last month, McDonald’s announced that it was selling its Russian locations to one of its local licensees, Alexander Govor. The new Russian McDonald’s owner plans to open 1,000 new locations across Russia within two months. 

With the reopening of McDonald’s come several changes, most notably the company's iconic logo. Russian customers will no longer see the chain’s iconic golden arches outside of the restaurant. Instead, they will see a new logo that consists of two fries and a hamburger. 

This is the new logo that will replace the McDonalds logo in Russia.

The reopening is timed to coincide with Russia Day. pic.twitter.com/3rAgOUsA2J

— Lexi (@missylexilou) June 10, 2022

“The green background of the logo symbolizes the quality of products and service that our guests are accustomed to,” a spokesperson said. “The logo will be used in the advertising campaign that we are launching today.”

The McDonald’s name will also change. However, the new name of the chain has not been revealed to the public yet. 

The app temporarily changed the name in its application to “My Burger,” but the company’s press team said it was only a placeholder name. 

"Some things are changing, but stable work is here to stay," the app also reads. 

Items on the menu will also receive different names: the Filet-O-Fish was renamed to “Fish Burger,” and the famous Chicken McNuggets changed to “Nuggets.”