Former McDonald’s reopens in Kazakhstan without logo

Astana, Kazakhstan (AFP). Several restaurants that used to operate under the McDonald’s brand in Kazakhstan reopened on Wednesday without the chain’s logo, weeks after the fast food giant left the country due to supply issues.

Food Solutions KZ, the company that previously operated the local McDonald’s franchise, said three restaurants in the capital, Astana, are reopening and information about their new name and menu will be forthcoming.

The McDonald’s logo no longer appeared on newly opened restaurants, but only a yellow capital M in the words “My Open” (“We are open”).

Menu item names have also been slightly changed.

On Monday, some of the former McDonald’s restaurants reopened in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city and economic hub.

McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in the Central Asian country in 2016.

He operated 24 restaurants in six cities in Kazakhstan, and the local franchise was owned by Kairat Boranbaev, a relative of Kazakhstan’s first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Boranbaev, ranked 14th on Forbes’ 2021 list of Kazakhstan’s richest people, was accused of embezzlement in March.

In early January, a local operator said McDonald’s would close its doors in Kazakhstan due to supply restrictions.

Later, the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan stated that there were problems with the supply of meat and other products of Russian production due to the withdrawal of McDonald’s from Russia.

Like many Western giants, McDonald’s left neighboring Russia last year after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

In Russia, McDonald’s was bought by a Russian businessman and renamed Vkusny. Point “(” Tasty and point “).