Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011 at
6:48 pm
Earlier in his career, Christopher Wynne put his Russian expertise to work researching arms proliferation for the American government. Now he’s engaged in geopolitics of another sort: deploying American fast food for the emerging Russian middle class.
Mr. Wynne is the top franchisee in Russia for the Papa John’s Pizza chain. His competitors include the American chains Sbarro and Domino’s, and a Russian upstart, Pizza Fabrika. But so far, compared with the largely saturated United States market for fast food, Mr. Wynne says he is finding plenty of demand.
“I could succeed in my sleep there is so much opportunity here,” said Mr. Wynne, who has just opened his 25th Papa John’s outlet in Russia, doubling the number in the last year.
Continue reading . . .
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 at
10:17 pm
The eyebrows of Arkady Novikov shoot up briefly as a crash of glass and china resounds between the tables and Chinese artefacts in his Mr Lee restaurant. “There goes another $20,” says Moscow’s most successful restaurateur with a wry smile, sitting at one of the tables in his upmarket Asian-themed eatery.
In 1991, Mr Novikov set up his first restaurant with a $50,000 loan from a wealthy Russian who ate in the Hard Rock-inspired restaurant Mr Novikov then managed. He has gone on to shape dining trends, start new fads and open establishments ranging from the cheap and cheerful Russian buffet chain Yolki Palki through to Bolshoi, a light, airy restaurant just a stone’s throw from the eponymous theatre, where the walls are hung with his business partner’s collection of fine art. The Novikov name has become a byword for high-end dining, where the clientele include Vladimir Putin, prime minister and former president, and supermodel Naomi Campbell.
Mr Novikov has an easy smile not commonly seen among successful Russian businessmen, and talks to journalists, waiters and oligarchs with equal ease, bubbling with enthusiasm as he describes his newest ventures.
Continue reading . . .
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 at
8:28 pm
U.S. ribs-and-cocktails restaurant chain Chili’s opened its first restaurant in Moscow on Wednesday, joining a throng of companies keen to cash in on Russia’s consumer spending boom and growing middle class.
The company, owned by Brinker International Inc, has seen sales of its Mexican-style ribs, chicken wings and margaritas slow on its home front, and thinks Russian diners will help reverse the trend.
Continue reading . . .
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 at
8:48 pm
Wendy’s/Arby’s Group could open as many as 180 dual-branded restaurants in Russia over the next 10 years, under a development agreement with a Moscow-based group.
The nation of 139 million people — making it the world’s ninth-largest by population — is attractive to Wendy’s/Arby’s because it is served by relatively few fast-food restaurants. The company is the third-largest fast food chain in the U.S. but does a relatively small percentage of its business outside the country.
“This is a key step in the continued acceleration of our international development strategy,” said Roland Smith, CEO of Sandy Springs-based Wendy’s/Arby’s. He called Russia a dynamic market with significant long-term expansion potential.
Continue reading . . .
Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at
8:20 pm
George Cohon has had few moments of doubt in his life — “press on,” he likes to say, quoting his mentor, McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc. But the night before the restaurant’s famous 1990 entrance on the world stage in Russia, Cohon was getting worried.
He managed to get some sleep in a Moscow hotel, but he tossed and turned, and awoke from fitful dreams. He had a terrible thought: “What if nobody comes?”
A few blocks from the Kremlin, the world’s media had set up shop to record the big event.
“We had huge platforms for the TV cameras,” Cohon, a seasonal Palm Beacher, recalls now. “Everybody was interested. It was a breakthrough.”
Continue reading . . .
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at
10:22 pm
With provocative advertising videos featuring nude models at a sauna and a grumpy airport border guard, Burger King, one of the largest fast food corporations in the world, has established a presence in Russia by opening two restaurants in Moscow. The company, which operates more than 12,000 restaurants in 73 countries, is entering the Russian market as a part of its expansion strategy in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Claiming that Russia is “an exciting, active market with a vibrant economy,” Burger King’s executive management is quite optimistic about the company’s prospects. “We believe that our brand’s entry into Russia exemplifies our company’s commitment to diversifying our global restaurant portfolio and represents a milestone in our expansion strategy in the region,” said John Chidsey, the chairman and CEO of the Burger King Corporation. “More than 80 percent of our net restaurant growth is realized in international markets, and we are pleased with our new strategic market entry into Russia and its future expansion potential.”
Continue reading . . .
Monday, February 1st, 2010 at
6:33 pm
Viktor A. Semenov was growing lettuce on a collective farm outside Moscow in 1990 when a representative of McDonald’s stopped by. The company had just opened a restaurant. Could he sell it a few boxes of lettuce each week?
Mr. Semenov’s assistant turned it down. One restaurant was too small of an order.
“I said, ‘My friend! You see how many McDonald’s there are in the West?’ ” Mr. Semenov recalled recently. “I said, ‘Sell them lettuce at any price. It’s our new strategy.’ ”
With that, Mr. Semenov started a company that has all but cornered the market on packaged fresh vegetables in Russia.
With a buy-one-get-one-free deal on hamburgers and a traditional Russian accordion band, McDonald’s celebrated on Monday the 20th anniversary of the opening of its first store in the Soviet Union, a restaurant that drew long lines.
But the company celebrated a different milestone earlier this year by outsourcing the last product — hamburger buns — it had made at a proprietary factory outside Moscow called McComplex. It was built on the outskirts of Moscow before the chain opened its first restaurant. Nearly everywhere else, McDonald’s buys ingredients, rather than making its own. But in the Soviet Union, there simply were no private businesses to supply the 300 or so distinct ingredients needed by a McDonald’s outlet.
Continue reading . . .
