[avakand]

It seems that McDonald's closed stores that operated directly under their control. As a result, only stores in westert part of Russia were closed (in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg). The stores in Siberia (i.e. Novosibirsk) and in Moscow airports continued operating as usual, as they are working under franchaising. Even the mobile app continued functioning.

So not much is going to change, I think. Hell, McDonalds is even open in DNR/LNR "republics" under the name "DonMac".

[zapt02]

McDonalds is not "open in DNR/LNR", DonMak is a completely unaffiliated restaurant that is a knock-off of the McDonalds brand.

https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.326T9WB

[samwillis]

I think the suggestion is that they are going to remove the branding rights from the franchise owners “de-Arching” them. So there will be no McDonalds branded restaurants in Russia.

[scohesc]

What will McDonalds do if Russian franchises/restaurants just keep using the golden arches, menu item names, etc?

Sure they might taste different - but what is McDonalds' recourse? Not sure they can do anything if they've decided to remove themselves from doing business in Russia. Seems similar in situation to the knock-offs in other countries that McD's doesn't do business in.

[tut-urut-utut]

Could they actually do that if the “lease” contract expires? (if that is the correct term for a franchise).

[pionar]

I assume there's a clause in the franchise agreement covering this sort of thing. If the franchisor decides to exit a market, the agreement probably provides a process to do so.

Not a McD franchisee, but I've been involved in franchise businesses before.