I Tried Russia’s "New" McDonalds... 

As a Ukrainian, I find it amazing that the average Russian citizen is preoccupied with the quality of their burgers. In Ukraine, we are preoccupied with staying alive, avoiding Russian soldiers and getting any food and water. But I guess that you guys are not aware of that. Enjoy your ice cream.

There was a Russian guy that chained himself to a McDonald's in Moscow not too long ago. He was totally against McD's closing. It was hilarious! This chubby guy chained to the door like no, don't take my McD's, no, no, no! 😄 It was too funny.

"Mommy, can we have some Tasty, Period?!" Mom said "no"....

I worked at McDonald’s in the late 80’s in the U.S.. I’m guessing that the ice cream machines put in Moscow in 1990 were the same models I worked with. We rarely had any breakdowns. The machines must have been replaced sometime after that to these new ones that constantly need service technicians to come fix them. I wonder if the Russian McDonald’s ever replaced the original machines.

Honestly, that hamburger patty was bigger than anything I've been served in Canada. Interesting, thanks.

Ironically, “Tasty, Period” did not have the most popular burger in Russia “Big Tasty” in stock

Would actually love to see a video on traditional Russian restaurants and cuisine.

It is so refreshing to watch videos from Russia that are about the everyday person and not the government.

I like the way Constatine interpreted it, "Tasty, That's It" Sounds better than "period"

The fact that Russia is doing this sort of thing is scorched earth. No company is going to risk coming to Russia again for a LONG time. You’re right, you can expect the food quality and safety to drop dramatically over time. One of the most impressive things about McDonald’s is how safe the food is to eat (not including long term health consequences).

Nikki you’re such a good person and kind, thank you from Ukraine 🇺🇦 P.S. I loved that intro song you played in the first 25 seconds of your video.

They may still have stocks of McDonalds patties & other supplies so it may take a while until they're all used up. Then you will taste the difference later. Great video Niki & as always; I Wish You Good Health & Take Care.

Good for Russia! If I ever go to Russia I will for sure visit Vkusno as a must stop. Sincerely, a Chinese comrade.

"One 'Royal' " (aka 'Quarter Pounder'.) Yeah, no standard use of the metric system yet. We knuckleheads in the U.S, still stuck on the standard measuring system. 🤣😆

There is an agreement between McDonalds and the third party that fixes the Ice Cream Machine for them. The agreement between the company is that Mcdonald's promises them the ability to service the ice cream machines a specific number of time. Since this only would occur if there is something wrong with the machine, the code for the machine has error code that can only be cleared by someone authorized by the third party that has this agreement with McDonalds. There was another company that tried providing an update to these machines, so that it wouldn't error our needlessly like it does under the current set up. However, McDonalds squashed the use of this software since it was not authorized, since the owner's of the McDonald's can only used authorized McDonald's software.

My guess is this will be a much better place than Mac. Please Russia show the World you can do it.

It's impressive how easy you can switch from russian language to english language. I need a up to 5 minutes to speak and understand Russian when I was speaking German before 😔

In the US, that ice cream would be considered vanilla ice cream with hot fudge.

8:40 The ice Cream Machines in the US don't work well because McDonalds corporation has a (unethically close) relationship with the company who services/repairs the ice cream machines. Because franchise owners are forced to pay for repairs fully out of pocket, and are contractually unable to service the machines themselves or use another company, the "defects" in the machines are built in to keep the repair company making money with no impact to McDonalds itself. It's pretty much the worst side of capitalism.

The only reason I go in there is for the polonium tea and Novichok cookies. They're to die for.

I used to work as a crew trainer at McDonald’s here in the US at a franchise in my small hometown (it’s since been purchased by another franchisee because the original franchisers retired....they had started out as McDonald’s employees before ever becoming franchisers so I definitely enjoyed working for them because the owners would come in and work alongside us a lot of times). Anyways, there’s no “problem” with the ice cream machines in the US. They’re functioning as intended. It’s just that the machines have to be regularly cleaned and receive maintenance throughout the day and it’s not a quick process. Management of stores try to pick when they think it’ll be slowest as to when to do this process, but just because it’s technically slow doesn’t mean there aren’t customers still coming in. So when customers order items that require the ice cream or shake machine (two different machines) while the cleaning and maintenance process is occurring we have to tell them that the machines aren’t working. It certainly has led to people discussing it online and thinking the machines are constantly broken. They’re not broken, they’re just taken apart, unplugged, and being serviced and then reassembled, plugged in, and having to go back through the process of freezing the product. At the four stores my franchisers owned they did this process twice a day at two of them because they were 24-hour restaurants. A third store only did it twice a day on weekends because it was open later on weekends, while the store inside the Walmart was the one that was opened the least hours so only had to do it once a day. Potato wedges would be neat to get At McDonald’s. I like the fries. However I remember a friend whose kid didn’t like thin fries and would usually eat potato wedges, tater tots, and waffle fries. She usually got him apple slices with his Happy Meal. Anyways, other than the potato wedges the only sorta difference I noticed was the chocolate sundae. But honestly it’s not really a difference because sooooooooo many McDonald’s franchise restaurants have employees make them the way you did that it’s just normal to see it. However, when I was training to be a crew trainer and had to learn the official corporate way of making things, one of the things I learned is that there’s supposed to be chocolate, caramel, strawberry, or hot fudge (depending on what type of sundae you get) at the base of the cup, then the ice cream (for a small it is 2 swirls of ice cream, for large sundae it’s 5 swirls of ice cream) followed by the same chocolate, caramel, strawberry, or hot fudge on top. I don’t remember the explanation given as to why it’s done that way, but the corporate video I watched did explain why the company did things the way they did for everything I learned about either in the video, the book I was given, as well as the corporate manager who was training me. I was in 5th grade (elementary school) whenever the first McDonald’s opened in Moscow, USSR. I remember it was a big deal and talked about on the tv news and in newspapers. As a kid who had only ever left my state to visit family in other states of the US on holidays or for family reunions, it was the first time I realized that certain things weren’t necessarily normal for everyone everywhere in the world. I mean, I kinda had a feeling that was the case since I had an uncle who was British and my grandparents had friends from lots of different nations that’d occasionally visit and a great aunt and uncle who traveled around the world for their job and would bring me back things from their travels and tell me about what the people and cultures were like there at family reunions (they were also the ones who’d bring the unique dishes). So while I knew my family had differences from other families and that there were things that didn’t cross state lines, McDonald’s was something I saw everywhere and it hadn’t occurred to me until that moment that it wasn’t just an everywhere thing! If that makes any sense. Great video! Thanks for making it! Your videos are always interesting and I certainly enjoy sharing them with friends of mine who are interested. I didn’t realize you spoke Chinese. I have a friend that learned it in elementary school and continues to practice using it and learn it. It’s come in handy a few times for her when she worked in a retail store. Once there were tourists who spoke Mandarin as their first language. She was able to switch back and forth between English and Mandarin with them to help them find the items they were looking for as well as understand how things were priced (because the signage at the store had things with price tags, but then things were on sale based on a sign on the table, but the original price determined what the sale price was; for example an item that was $9 would be on sale for 25%, but an item that was tagged as $19 would be on sale for 15% or be buy 1 at regular price get the second one for 25%....it’s a local hobby/craft store that does weird pricing like that all the time) and how to calculate sales tax. I’m gonna share this video with her just because I know she’ll enjoy hearing another nonAsian speaker of Chinese. And she might enjoy the rest of the video, too (not sure since we mostly share music videos with each other), so this is a good way to find out! :-) Love your channel!

This restaurant should be known like Prince was when he got angry with his record label and changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol. Thereafter he was referred to as: "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince" Hence your rebranded food place could be known as "The Fast Food Joint Formerly Known as McDonalds."

I love the fact the royal burger uses McDonald’s wrapper

New Zealand has the same problem with their ice cream machines. They can be broken for months. Really annoying.

I am sure I read in the News, that the new owner in Russia for "Tasty", is the same owner of the McDonalds franchise, and that the agreement is that if circumstances change, which they will, and Russia joins the rest of the World as friends in the next 15 years, that McDonalds will be able to buy the stores back, and re introduce McDonalds, or maybe if Tasty is a success, stay under that brand.

If you like french fries you should go to Belgium one day. They invented them and they have huge varieties of sauces. Just delicious. 😋

Potato wedges are pretty standard around the world, I always buy them at the grocery store. But you can also find them in restaurants, especially steak houses.

I think people miss the point about McD. McD in Russia was/is about how to run and scale a business and be consistent. McD was never about how great their food is. As you can see. half the menu is already not available.

The ice cream machines here in Australian McDonald's are always broken as well. The rumours are the staff can t be bothered making thickshakes and ice cream products.

I grew up in San Bernardino, California, USA. I lived within walking distance from the first McDonalds ever built and went there often. I can't remember that far back but I would bet the quality was a lot better than todays McDonalds! lol

But are we sure the new McDonald's isn't actually McPoots?

Niki, here in the states I’ve never seen potato wedges at any McDonald’s. Also we do not have a cheese sauce option. The mystery behind our never working ice cream machines is this: every 24 hours the machine requires cleaning. I’ve heard it will not dispense ice cream until the cleaning is complete. If the restaurant has been really busy and - or if the employees that shift are lazy they will just say “sorry the machine is broken” sometimes they are honest and say “we don’t have ice cream right now because the machine is being cleaned - or because the machine needs cleaning”

In the US, I have never had any difficulty in getting ice cream at McDonald's. I don't eat there all the time, but honestly, the other people are either there an awful lot or have bad luck or something. Lol The burger you ate looks like what we would call a Quarter Pounder, possibly. The potato wedges I have never seen at any fast food to include McDonald's, except a place called Jack in the Box. I find your videos quite informative, thank you for sharing!

The reason most of the McDonalds have shut down compared to the other fast food places is because McDonalds owned the majority of stores, the others are mostly Franchises owned by Russians, the head companies in the West don't have a legal basis to shut them down, at least that is my understanding. Those Franchise owners owns the right to sell their goods using the company logo and there isn't anything the companies can do about it, although I don't know much about that aspect of the law,

I have heard from people that work at McDonald's here that they say the machine is broken when they don't want clean it.

We have the potato wedges in France, I way prefer them to the normal fries :D We also used to have the chicken premiere sandwich but haven't had it here in many years, really interesting to hear you still had them in Russia until recently

Yes I just read an article about this as an American I have say this hilarious. I didn’t know so many Russians loved McDonald’s

Just so you know, the US side of Burger King & KFC did pull out of Russia. But almost all of those Russian stores are franchises. Watch for changing price even in the same brand unless they are owned by the same lessee. There will be some brands stay on in Russia. None were forced to leave. I heard Red Bull (Austrian) plans to stay on. Proctor & Gamble (US) has plans to stay in place. It could be the taste won't be as good in a year. But that is up to the people that run it now.

Niki I also just noticed you hit 100k subscribers! Way to go. Well deserved. 🏆

Russia has all the ingredients required to make its own McDonalds in abundance: Beef, chickens, potatoes, flour, cheese etc. Why didn't they make their own from the start? Why did they need to involve an American multinational company?

What do you call a wedding between two Russian people? A Soviet Union.

At this point I fully believe that going to the new McDonalds is pointless - it will taste almost identical to the real thing because they still have original stuff in stock and are selling that as of right now..... it would be better to see what it looks and tastes like in a few months, as that's when they'll definitely run out of original McDonalds produce and will have to substitute with fully russian alternatives, which do not have the same additives as the ones you have right now. Also expecting them to say they don't have most of the stuff available in the future as well, because such a big franchise is hard to keep up with no help from imported goods.

Excellent video! Thank you for taking us with you to see the McDonald’s replacement.

Potato wedges are very common in the USA 🇺🇸 nearly every large market like ralphs kroger etc have them in there delis

Niki I really enjoy your casual style videos and just telling it like it is. It is fascinating to see how things are changing for you. Keep the the great work!

You should try making Italian Style potato wedges at home. New Jersey style. Cut your wedges. You can leave skin on. Spread onto cookie sheet and toss it with olive oil oregano and garlic powder. A bit of salt. Toss it about on the cookie sheet and cook in oven 400...450... until done. They will be crispy on outside. It's good. James from Pennsylvania.

In other places round the world we call the 'village potatoes' - wedges. Not that common but I definitely like it too, it just feels more fleshy than your usual french fry.

As usual, I always enjoy your videos. Mostly because I am glad to see the quality of life we American's really don't have much of an idea of how life is in Russia. Fairly close to our lives here in the United States. I am happy that the franchises did not close, if that were the case I'd be upset to miss my quarter pound with cheese and large fries hold the salt and they actually do make me a special batch of salt-free fries that allows me to add my own amount of salt and they don't drown in salt which is way to salty for me. I remember when I was much younger when a Mcdonald's was only a dime for a hamburger and the line was always so long of cars wanting such a good bargain and being able to feed their children a good hamburger which was a special treat. Do you have another franchise called "IN AND OUT BURGERS".... they beat McDonald's hands down, but they are to hard for me to find where I live? I also loved seeing so many people with very modern motorcycles and cars and Moscow looks beautiful. I wish so much that our countries would get along because many Americans would enjoy seeing how beautiful Russia is. I come from the part of Alaska that is very much fashioned like the early Russians that did travel to Alaska like the Kenai Peninsula. Even the village i come from had a Russian cemetery and of course the story of our land being so close to Russia and at times during the winter when the narrow waters in upper Alaska freeze it is possible for each one of our countries people to literally walk across the ice into each other's countries. I believe it is only 36 miles apart. Keep up the great work and showing us really how much in common we are citizens despite our leaders not getting along ...that we the people have a great interest in each of the other country's lives. God bless you and be safe! Please excuse any grammar or spelling errors as I have misplaced my glasses and I know full well I have made many errors. I apologize. God bless you and stay safe.

The reason McDonalds was so successful was because service was extremely fast...

About the American ice cream machines, Johnny Harris made a surprisingly in depth explainer video about it. Long story short; it's to do with the monopoly on the Mc Donald's ice cream machines and them not allowing self-repair.

Ice cream machines in America are normally not working for two reason: 1) ice cream machines in general are bacteria factories. They require a lot of cleaning and it's not worthwhile repeatedly cleaning them throughout a day if you're not selling them regularly. 2) US branch of McDonalds has a contract with multiple third parties to maintaining their ice cream machines. There's constantly disputes around these contracts that stop the machines being repaired, including certain companies purposely programming ice cream machines to say they are faulty when they're not. Russia sort of doesn't care about either of those two things, the health standards for ice cream are slightly less stringent and repairs are generally done by the franchise owner.

Perfectly missed opportunity to call these restaurants: "Is Potato"

I actually ate at McDonald's in Kyiv like 3 years ago. I'm from US, and generally DO NOT like mcds, but it was the only place open. I ate at the one in Maydan and the menu was basically the same, except (this one anyways) had breaded shrimp and something like chili cheese fries. I had the big Mac meal. Was basically the same crap we sell 🤣, but they had a double fudge cookie that was UNBELIEVABLE!!!

There's nothing wrong with the ice cream machines at McD's in USA. The staff hates to clean it, so rather than use it they just say it's broken.

I am happy you are back and doing okay! Thank you for this interesting video!!

Petersburg is the most beautiful city in the world , I realise that after being in USA 6 years , , European cities are so much more beautiful the us cities where homeless everywhere, and every down town looks same in every USA city .. just tall buildings, nothing interesting.

In Canada, potato wedges are pretty common but I've never seen them at a McDonald's, nor have I ever seen them with cheese sauce! They look very good though...I think the "Royal" is the "Quarter Pounder with Cheese" here.

How much did the ‘almost McDonalds’ meal cost?

Legend has it, the ice cream machines require extensive cleaning. The staff elect to do other things. Love from Dallas, Texas 💙 You always do so well. :)

I saw interview with new owner of these ex-McDonalds in Russia - and they said for a while they have ingredients to keep 90% same taste, but when these ingredients will dry out - then taste might be much different.

It's so weird you have to scan your bags at the railway station, it's not a thing in Canada. Thanks Niki for bringing us these video's.

Two cool things about McDonald's. First is the obvious...they have a core set of products: Big Mac, Filet-o-Fish, McNuggets, etc. So no matter where you go in the world, you'll beable to find something familiar. McDonalds has also allowed their francisees offer a few different foods that cater to local interests. When I was in Austrailia I noticed the McDonald's there offered the Kiwi Burger which was a burger with beets and egg. In the Phillipines, the McDonald's there offer the McDo w/ McSpaghetti (chicken drumstick and spaghetti). In the UK, the menu was pretty much the same as the United States but they provided vinegar for the french fries instead of ketchup. I'm curious if Russian McDonald's offered any local specialty dishes before leaving. BTW, slang for McDonald's in the United States "Mickey Dees".

To answer your question about why USA McDonald's ice cream machine or smoothie machine is never working is because they don't want to clean the machines. It is not specific to McDonalds though. Almost all fast food restaurant will say their machine is not working to not serve you ice cream to save the time to reclean or have to clean the machine.

I just watched a guy on the internet from Russia eat a burger and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Niki, the story I hear about the ice cream is that it is too difficult to properly clean and maintain the machine. So in the USA it sometimes is simply not operating.

New subscriber! I am in the U.S. and at least 75 percent of the time I try and order the ice cream from McDonald’s the machines are not working. Just like you said. I know they must lose out on a lot of money especially in the summer. Keep up the great content!

Thank you Niki for sharing this video about your country. Take care from Canada.

Enjoying this diversion. In the U.S. we also have "In and Out" Burger as well as "Chik Fillet", for chicken sandwiches. Definite upgrades of McDonald's and KFC.

Seems they are selling just the leftovers from Mcdonald's stock. I guess when that is all gone, the menu and taste will change dramatically.

As an Italian, i have to say that, if Mcdonald's has left Russia, I really envy the Russians for this

We love you niki, thank you for doing what you do from beautiful Russia!

the problem with the ice cream machines in the US is that you have to clean them. That's it. And it sounds like a SIMPLE problem, but we also have unmotivated workers.

wait till its supplies run out like coca-cola. and all the ingredients change after the surplus stock is all used up. then try again. please tell us what the new name means..

Nikita, i think they should rename the restaurant to "Putin food on the table"

icecream machines in usa often get shut off because health department finds bacteria growing

Thanks for this video, I'd been really wondering about this. Keep sharing about changes or non changes in Russia.

Something I noticed - how slowly the employees move around! Very rare in the US and even Europe.☺

McVladimir's.

"The icecream machine is broken" is kind of a meme in germany as well, but in 98% i get icecream.

Niki - I worked at McDonald's in the year 1995. The truth is the ice cream machine is a horrible pain to clean and set up every day so we used to just say it's not working. Technically that was true because it was not assembled. The machines still look the same so I am sure it's the same reason. Haha. - Nathan from Tulsa Oklahoma.

In Russia, in addition to fast food, there are many delicious restaurants and cafes of the national cuisine of Russia! Russia is a multinational country, there is a very rich cuisine here! But McDonald's is not so delicious, it's not delicious food, if you want to eat a delicious burger, it's better to eat in Burger King, it tastes better there!)

The royal burger is probably a lot like what we call a quarter pounder, when I was in France that's what they called it and they even talked about it in Pulp Fiction.

The reason US ice cream machines are always broken is due to them having to get them cleaned. It sucks to clean a sticky machine out and sometimes the workers won’t do it. It also has to do with the time you want an ice cream. It’s considered a desert for later in the day or at night and that is usually when they start to shut the machine down and get things cleaned for the next day. The night workers are few and don’t want to spend time cleaning a machine for one customer to have an ice cream so they say it is broken.

The ice cream machines have a very lengthy cleaning cycle built into the system, in uk / Europe / USA they have to apply the cleaning cycle due to regulations and the chemicals poured into the machine takes a long time to work - hence many machines always being out of service. maybe the cleaning cycle is not applied so often?

I laughed when you ordered the Royale. It made me think of a line in 'Pulp Fiction' about what they call the Quarter Pounder in France.

Thanks for sharing this video, I was so curious about this new McD's ! In the USA the McD's do not have these types of potato wedges but in the southern states its very common to find at other fast food places under the name "Jojo potatoes". :)

Always remember: the Russians, too, love their children. Which is no wonder, when it comes to boys like Niki ;) I still hope we all will see better times.

I remember on a band trip we ate at a McDonald's that had the arches running thru roof it was one of the last ones like that in 1974 !=8)

McDonalds food in the US is pretty much a chemical joke.I don't know how they stay in business, except that every kid wants a Happy Meal. They are basically bottom of the barrel fast food.

The ice cream machine company has contracts with McDonalds, that just their service personel is allowed to repair it (even everybody could fix it within minutes, if they would be allowed and has a minimum of knowledge) and for a hell lot of money.

I think they still have a lot of McDonald’s stocks and the taste might change once the stocks are gone. Thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed your videos and your tiktoks. At one point, you used a card for your paymen, i thought Visa and Mastercard suspended their operations there, but apparently its still working.

Thank you for the interesting video, Niki! Hope, you can emigrate safely soon.

Two weeks since your last video, I was very concerned if something bad happened to you. Glad you are back 👍

You mean the dumbest ripoff in history!

In Poland we also have these potato wedges (łódeczki ziemniaczane), but only in limited time offer

I’m glad to see that you are ok and still show how life evolves in Russia. I’m so tired of hypocrisy of western media: rejoicing at the misfortunes of Russians.

The owners of the fast food restaurant will never be able to come into the Western world without being sued for breach of agreement

It makes sense to me that the franchise stayed open. They operate pretty independentally and I assume they use up everything they still have in stock from McDonalds. And then replace things with new suppliers slowly.

Thank you for the interesting video, and indeed I wonder how the quality will evolve as the old stock runs out.