25,000 Soviets Answer Ad for Workers at McDonald’s

McDonald’s Corp. said today that more than 25,000 Muscovites have responded to a single help-wanted ad in a newspaper seeking to fill 630 crew positions at the chain’s first restaurant in Moscow.

The McDonald’s restaurant on Pushkin Square is scheduled to open Jan. 31. It will be the fast-food giant’s largest operation, seating 700 people indoors and another 200 outside and is expected to serve more than 15,000 customers a day.

Moscow-McDonald’s, a joint venture of McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Ltd. and the Foodservice Administration of the Moscow City Council, plans to eventually open 20 restaurants in the Soviet Union.

A McDonald’s spokesman said that so far, 550 crew members have been hired for the Moscow operation. The crew will begin training next month after an orientation.

The company said that in recent weeks, it conducted more than 3,100 interviews--seven days a week, 10 hours a day at McDonald’s Moscow office.

McDonald’s said the applicants have varied backgrounds, ranging from housewives re-entering the work force or seeking their first job to students from Moscow University. About 20% said they know two languages.