McDonald’s Russia shutdown

McDonald’s expects its Russia shutdown will cost the business $50 million a month, but that’s just 3% of the fast-food chain’s operating income. The impact on Russia itself will be much bigger.

As companies flee the country, their employees will be set adrift in an economy where inflation is at a 20-year-high, and where diverse, flourishing jobs were hard to find even before the Ukraine war. The 62,000 people who could be let go from McDonald’s, whose history in the country is a handy lens for viewing Russia’s regression to the Soviet era, may add their numbers to a jobs crisis already in progress.

“This is probably the biggest, boldest corporate social responsibility” for the industry, restaurant consultant Aaron Allen told Quartz. “It’s a whole new scale of measurement because it’s not just swapping out non-dairy and alternative proteins.” In making this kind of bold move, McDonald’s pushes others in the restaurant industry to consider what they’ll do. Yum! Brands, the second-biggest restaurant operator in Russia and owner of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, may be next to pull out.