Moscow Big on Big Mac, Even at $12
Muscovites say they will go on eating Big Macs, even at double the price.
“Of course the food is very expensive for us, but where else can we get a hamburger that tastes like this?” asked Elena Dachenko, as she munched a cheeseburger today.
“This restaurant has so much culture,” said Katya Zavapovskaya. “I’ll probably continue eating here even though the prices are higher.”
McDonald’s doubled its prices Monday, making the capital’s first American-style fast-food restaurant unaffordable for many.
But most customers lining up to enter McDonald’s today in a steady drizzle appeared unaware of the increases, announced in the newspaper Izvestia.
A Big Mac hamburger has soared to about $12 at the official exchange rate. A double cheeseburger now costs $9.60.
Marc Winer, general director of McDonald’s in Moscow, said the restaurant was forced to raise prices to compensate for increased costs of meat and vegetable oil. “It was a painful decision,” he said.
Since the Pushkin Square restaurant opened in January, it has served about 50,000 customers a day.
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