Looks like Burger King is coming to Russia, even if they are two decades too late. A company spokesperson acknowledged that Burger King will open a first Moscow restaurant by the end of Decmeber.
Burger King, the world’s second-biggest hamburger chain, hopes that their first Russian outlet can be open before the end of 2009. Unlike McDonalds which planted restaurants as a corporate venture run by McDonalds-Canada, Burger King hopes to go the more traditional Western route of franchising stores.
BK spokeswoman Andrea Ungereit-Hantl told Reuters that “we are still under negotiations with different parties. We are hoping to open soon. The plan is to open by the end of this calendar year.”
Bigger rival McDonald’s will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the opening of its first Russian restaurant next year, but the country is still does not have many foreign fast-food chains.
Ungereit-Hantl said Burger King was looking to cooperate with multiple franchise partners in Russia but would not say how many restaurants that the company aimed to open.
“It’s an interesting market. It’s a big country. It’s attractive and developing. It’s the country where Burger King should be,” she said.
McDonald’s, which has about 300 restaurants in Russia, saw sales here rise 20 percent in 2008 and has said it expected the country to remain its fastest-growing market despite the economic crisis.
In September, Burger King categorically denied a report in Kommersant that it had signed a franchising deal with Mikhail Bazhenov, a co-owner of St. Petersburg-based Adamant Holdings.
The U.S.-based fast food giant, which operates more than 11,900 restaurants globally, has been focusing on putting the necessary infrastructure in place over the past several months and has recruited local development managers in Moscow and other major Russian cities.