The Golden Arches Spur Russia's Economy

Andrew E. Kramer of the New York Times published the article "Russia's Evolution, Seen Through Golden Arches" on February 1, 2010. In his article he describes the influence of the McDonald's empire on the Russian food industry. McDonald's initially arrived in Russia twenty years ago, and just recently celebrated its anniversary with a buy-one-get-one-free deal and a traditional accordion band. McDonald's generally buys its food products from private businesses, but when it originally wanted to extend its chain the Soviet Union did not have the businesses to supply the outlets with the nearly 300 ingredients required, spurring McDonald's to build the McComplex just outside of Moscow, as well as invest in imports. But when McDonald's approached Viktor Semenev to buy a few boxes of lettuce for their first restaurant he jumped at the opportunity and he has cornered Russia's industry of packaged fresh vegetables. Now nearly everything, excluding processed frozen french fries, is being bought from local businesses that have sprung up as a result of McDonald's influence, allowing the fast food giant to put the McComplex up for sale. Now as western style supermarkets have moved into Russia these same businesses are able to install their goods in a whole new forum. Within the supermarkets were coolers capable of storing prepackaged salads, and Semenev immediately sprung into action. With his success Semenev has gone to serve Russia politically as he became a member of the Russian Parliament with the ruling United Russia Party. And Russia has now become McDonald's testing grounds, as shown by the development of McCafe's back in 2003. The same concept was introduced in the U.S. just last year. Currently, McDonald's is looking to invest $150 million in Russia including opening 45 new restaurants along with refurbishing the existing sites. "That is good news for the suppliers, too; those outlets will need a lot of shredded lettuce."

McDonald's has been the leader in the globalization of fast food chains, installing outlets in the majority of the world's countries. This has even led to the McDonald's theory; no country containing a McDonald's will go to war with another country containing a McDonald's. Although this correlation does not necessarily have the evidence to support itself, it shows McDonald's dominating influence on the global market. Because McDonald's came to Russia it spurred hundreds of new businesses that employ thousands of Russian citizens. The economic boost that Russia received proved to be substantial, particularly after the fall of the Soviet Union.

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