Bad news for men world wide =(

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/06/24/russia-the-big-mac-of-fast-food/#axzz1QDNTbawr

Russia: the Big Mac of fast food

By Courtney Weaver and Barney Jopson

When McDonald’s opened its first Russian restaurant in Moscow’s Pushkin Square in 1990, you would have thought they were giving out the hamburgers for free. Despite frigid February temperatures, Muscovites happily waited in line 10 hours to get a taste of their first Big Mac.

Now, 20 years, later a new crop of fast food chains are trying to replicate McDonald’s longterm success in Russia. (Its Pushkin location regularly ranks as the busiest McDonald’s in the world.) So will companies such as Wendy’s/Arby’s and Burger King be able to enjoy equal success?

Wendy’s/Arby’s franchiser said on Thursday that it would now open 192 restaurants in Russia over the next 10 years, or 12 more than originally planned.

On Thursday the company’s opened its new flagship location on Moscow’s Old Arbat street, home to other American exports such as Starbucks and Hard Rock Cafe. Andy Skehan, Wendy’s/Arby’s senior vice president, told reporters that despite its late arrival, the company was planning to focus its attention on Russia as a key market going forward.

“I consider Russia probably the best and most important market for us to enter. It’s a vibrant country with a growing economy and…people who like to eat meat,” he said, Reuters reported.

Russia will be the first Bric country for Wendy’s/Arby’s to enter, but openings in Brazil and China could be close behind, Skehan said.

The company’s rational for entering Russia is easy to see. According to Skehan, within five years, the company should be ringing in sales of $1.5m to $1.6m a year at each Russian restaurant, compared with just $1.2m at its average location in the US.

The boss of a different US fast food chain agrees. “Russia is a bit of a hidden gem when it comes to fast food,” he tells beyondbrics. Not only do Russian tend to have higher incomes than other emerging market consumers, but US fast food chains face few domestic competitors. There is “a complete lack of competition,” the CEO says.

Russia has only a few homegrown brands, most of which operate in kiosks, not storefronts. In Moscow, for instance, foreign brands have just three real competitors: Teremok, a blini pancake station; Kroshka Kartoshka (Baby Potato), a potato bar; and Stardog, a hot dog stand that specialises in frankfurters covered in bacon, or wrapped in a mashed potato-filled burrito.

In comparison China has myriad mom and pop shops catering to consumers’ every need, the US CEO says.

He and other chief executives acknowledge that Russia can be a difficult market to crack. McDonalds, for instance, spent 14 years trying to open its first store. And operating costs also tend to be higher. Yet the CEO says these and other concerns are offset by the strength of Russian demand for fast food.

“Because the top line is so good, that covers a lot of evils,” he says.

Edited June 26, 2011 by Why_Me

[eekee 182]

Eh, I'd consider the increase of cars to be a bigger risk to Russian figures than fast food.

[Brusik 11]

LOL this post is funny.. When I went to Georgia in November I couldn't believe all the slender people.. Tbilisi has only 2 Mcdonalds and there is no other Fast Food Chain.. I asked why people are so thin and my wifes son said the food is not made with all the ###### nutrients like the USA.. All natural process... LOL I bet their Mcdonalds is better than ours...........

[SMR 368]

I definitely agree with Eekee on this one. Russian may not have a lot of fast food burger joints yet, but it isn't as if Russians eat a healthy diet right now. Obviously some of them do, but it's about the same as the US, in my experience. Lots of simple starches, meat, mayonnaise, etc. There is quite a bit less sugar consumption in Russia, but I don't think that is critical. The difference is that Russians are more sparing in their portions and get a lot more exercise.

As Russia becomes more affluent, people will eat more and walk less. Success of fast food will be a by-product, more than a cause.

[eekee 182]

I do think the chemicals in prepared food makes a difference, but the average Russian as of now expends a lot more energy during the day.

[slim 1,525]

Calories are the big killer from fast food. When eating simple starches, meat, mayonaise, etc., the fat and carbs may be high but there really aren't a whole lot of "artificially inflated" calories in there. Fast food lops them on with the side items and drinks.

Compare-

2 fried cutlets covered in mayo (600 calories)

fried potatoes covered in butter and sour cream (400 calories)

hot tea (0 calories)

1000 calories for a "fat" meal by Russian standards. Typical meal is going to be a few hundred calories less.

American fast food -

Big Mac sandwich (540 calories)

medium fries (380 calories)

medium coke (210 calories)

1130 calories for an "average" meal by American standards with the typical meal being similar. Make it a large and/or get something like a double or triple Baconator and the sandwich alone is going to be over 1,000 calories with the total meal being around 2,500.

I'm with y'all on the fact that less walking will add some square footage to the backsides but, it's not like too many cars will really hurt Russia all that much. There's nowhere to drive and even less places to park!!! Even with a car you still have to walk several kilometers to get where you want to go and often taking your car is going to take so much longer because of the parking lot on every shosse.

Walking will never leave Russia!

[1HappyGuy 45]

I'm going to chime in with the automobile problem. I have seen it first hand in our little Russian speaking community. The ease and comfort of driving yourself instead of walking or taking a bus has lead to the spreading of cute butts into those approaching their American counterparts. But at least they have not adopted the habits of dressing like slobs.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Fast food joints, and more cars. I'm telling ya, nothing good is going to come of this. Next thing you know their going to be dressing in fat clothes and going to some twisted Russian version of Walmart.

[Krikit 1,164]

Just out of curiousity..... are the portion sizes in American fast food restaurants overseas the same as the portion sizes in domestic fast food restaurants? For instance, I find a large beverage in Canada is the same size as a small in the US. Plus there are no free refills.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Just out of curiousity..... are the portion sizes in American fast food restaurants overseas the same as the portion sizes in domestic fast food restaurants? For instance, I find a large beverage in Canada is the same size as a small in the US. Plus there are no free refills.

In Minsk the portions are smaller, they don't put ice in the cup unless you ask for it, and they charge extra for ketchup. But the Big Macs there still taste like the ones here...even if nothing else on the menu there does.

[slim 1,525]

I'm going to chime in with the automobile problem. I have seen it first hand in our little Russian speaking community. The ease and comfort of driving yourself instead of walking or taking a bus has lead to the spreading of cute butts into those approaching their American counterparts. But at least they have not adopted the habits of dressing like slobs.

My wife started to eat all that #######... and started to notice herself getting a gut (me pointing it out might've helped too) so she stopped immediately and started exercising more heavily. She will occasionally eat fast food (KFC is her kryptonite) but it's maybe only a few times a month. Even then she won't pound down the large fries and coke. It'll be a "large boorger" and onion rings or something and never nasty cola. Tea, coffee or juice only.

Just out of curiousity..... are the portion sizes in American fast food restaurants overseas the same as the portion sizes in domestic fast food restaurants? For instance, I find a large beverage in Canada is the same size as a small in the US. Plus there are no free refills.

I've never seen portions like we have here. Everywhere I've traveled always has portions so small I needed to order two.

McDonald's, BK and the like typically offer "local favorites" in some countries and modify their menu slightly to local tastes.

[Captain Hammer 113]

Just out of curiousity..... are the portion sizes in American fast food restaurants overseas the same as the portion sizes in domestic fast food restaurants? For instance, I find a large beverage in Canada is the same size as a small in the US. Plus there are no free refills.

I can't comment on fast food, since neither of us do fast food. But I've noticed overall that portion sizes in US restaurants are double, sometimes even triple the size of portions in Ukraine and Europe. To make matters worse,our habits are much more sedentary here too. Most people in Ukraine, in the city anyway, walk and ride the bus everywhere they go, and just generally lead more active lives. Makes me think of that Steve Martin movie--was it LA Story?--where they get in the car, drive half a block, and get out.

[^_^ 5,021]

... neither of us do fast food.

So you're one of those

[Krikit 1,164]

Makes me think of that Steve Martin movie--was it LA Story?--where they get in the car, drive half a block, and get out.

Definitely the portion sizes in the US are much larger than in the rest of the world. I was just curious as to the fast food counterparts, since I have never been in an American fast food restaurant in another country.

[Captain Hammer 113]

So you're one of those

I don't know what "one of those is," but we don't eat out very often. When we do eat out, we'd rather pay a little more for something edible and that is more likely to be an actual food, rather than a "food like" substance. I swore off fast food the day I learned that McDonalds actually has to add a meat flavor chemical to their beef because it contains so many additives that without the meat flavor chemical it doesn't even taste like meat anymore.

We make one exception, and that's In-n-Out burger. But I don't really consider In-n-Out to be fast food because it's usually packed (and so not "fast"), and they don't pump their food full of chemicals. Just good 'ol grease and vegetable oil as god intended.