20 Years Ago In USSR A Strange Thing Happened

johnleeknoefler · #1 11-13-2011, 06:50 PM

Around 20 years ago McDonalds got a permission from the Communist Party of Soviet Union to open its first restaurant in Soviet Russia. It was not only the first McDonalds but generally the first fast food place in Russia ever. People from all over the Russia when visiting Moscow wanted to visit this “pearl of the capitalism” so there were literary a few mile long lines of the visitors to this place.

This Restaurant is located next to Pushkin Square. While I did not visit this one I did indeed visit the one which is a block from Red Square. It's smaller and the name Mcdonalds is in Cyrillic.

johnleeknoefler · #2 11-13-2011, 06:59 PM

The last photo is of the McDonalds a block from Red Square where I ate my first Russian McDonalds Hamburger. One of the servers tried to charge me one ruble each for ketchup packets. I laughed and told him I was a visiting inspecter from McDonalds USA and I was about to put him on report. LOLOL. He handed over the ketchup with no more trouble. And the hamburgers and soda tasted just like here in USA. Imagine that!. I got the impression that even 15 years after they got McDonalds Russians were still impressed with having their own McDonalds. It was the first restaurant my Russian hosts took me to visit. My fiance at the time was unimpressed with the food quality and the next time her son wanted to stop at McDonalds she responded with "Blech!"

RedneckR0nin · #3 11-14-2011, 07:35 AM

I remember this being on the news...it was rather a big deal at the time. That it being part of the breakdown of the old Soviet Union and the formation of Russia! Cool thread!