Job-Hungry Muscovites Turn to McDonald’s

McDonald’s Corp. said Wednesday 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.

Applications are continuing to filter in, a spokesman said.

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 200 more outside and is expected to serve more than 15,000 customers a day.

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

A spokesman said that so far 550 crew members have been hired for the Moscow operation. Staff will begin training next month and will earn $2.25 (1.5 rubles) an hour, to be increased after three months, based on productivity.

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 jobs to students from Moscow University. About 20% said they know two languages.

As of Sept. 30, McDonald’s had 10,873 restaurants worldwide, including 2,763 outside the United States.

“McDonald’s has spent a lot of time and money on developing an international presence, which now represents about 30% of its business,” said analyst Richard Pyle at Piper, Jaffray & Hopwood. “The Moscow venture should help them bear some fruit from the investment.”

Analysts said that considering an average sale at McDonald’s is about $2.50 to $3, the Moscow outlet may generate $13.7 million annually. The typical McDonald’s unit brings in about $1.6 million in yearly revenue, they said.