Russian appetite for further McDonald’s restaurant closures

McDonald’s has said Russia’s consumer-safety regulator is inspecting more than 100 of its restaurants after the world’s largest fast-food chain was forced to close 12 locations in the country.

It has temporarily closed four restaurants in Krasnodar, in southern Russia, on an order from Rospotrebnadzor, as the agency is known, a company spokeswoman said.

Eight other outlets have been closed since August 20th, including its first and largest location in central Moscow.

The chain, which said it has total of 440 restaurants in the country, has come under pressure amid tensions between Russia and the US and its allies over tensions in Ukraine.

The US and EU imposed sanctions against Russian companies and officials, while President Vladimir Putin has reciprocated by banning some food imports.

"It's Russian retaliation to the sanctions - first it was a ban of food imports and then McDonald's," said Sabina Mukhamedzhanova, a fund manager at Promsvyaz Asset Management in Moscow.

“This is a prominent symbol of the US; it has a lot of restaurants and therefore is a meaningful target. I don’t recall McDonald’s having consumer-safety problems of such a scale in over more than two decades of presence in Russia.”

McDonald’s, which has more than 35,600 restaurants globally, fell 0.5 per cent to $94.14 at yesterday’s close in New York. Shares have dropped 3 per cent this year.