Global fast food giant McDonald’s plans to boost investment into Ukraine in 2012 by 25 percent compared to last year, pumping some Hr 200 million ($25 million) into upgrades of existing restaurants and launching up to four new ones, the group’s vice president and managing director in Ukraine Ian Borden told Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
“In 2011, we invested about Hr 160 million in business development in Ukraine and paid more than Hr 318 million in taxes and fees. We will continue to increase investment in Ukraine,” Borden said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Investments this year will also include opening of at least three McCafe outlets.
“I think that the first restaurant in 2012 will open in May or June,” Borden said. According to Interfax-Ukraine, McDonald’s launched one new restaurant in Kyiv last year, upgraded six, launched a new “McDrive system” at 22 restaurants and opened seven McCafe coffee houses in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk.
McDonald’s has expanded with lightening speed since its first restaurant opened in Kyiv on May 24, 1997, investing more than $150 million into 71 outlets in 21 cities. The group’s 7,000 domestic employees currently service 300,000 customers per day.
McDonald’s is the only of the world’s leading fast food giants to have established a sizable presence in Ukraine, but competitors, such as Domino’s Pizza have made inroads in the past year. KFC and Dunkin Donuts are also about to break onto the market, also through franchise agreements with investors.
So far, all of the McDonald’s restaurants in Ukraine are operated by the corporation itself. But Borden told Interfax-Ukraine that the corporation hopes to expand further in Ukraine in coming years in part by allowing investors to operate group restaurants through franchise agreements.
Some of the group’s most successful restaurants in terms of turnover are located in Ukraine. A further increase on already strong sales is expected during the Euro 2012 soccer championship which Ukraine is co-hosting with Poland from June 8 to July 1.
