For decades, the onion-shaped golden domes of an Orthodox Christian monastery kept watch over this lush valley in Ukraine’s westernmost corner. But last month, a new, unmistakable symbol appeared: M-shaped golden arches, perched atop a pole at the foot of a mountain.
McDonald’s had finally reached Ukraine’s remote, alpine region of Transcarpathia, and the locals could not be happier.
“We come here every day,” said Anna Bilenets, 22, as she polished off a McChicken during a recent lunch break at a bustling McDonald’s in Mukachevo, one of two cities in Transcarpathia where the chain opened this spring. Around her, children tore into Happy Meals with giddy delight and couples reached into boxes of French fries.
Sitting next to a friend, Ms. Bilenets explained how their McDonald’s visits had become “a routine.” First, they go to a gym nearby. Then, they reward themselves with a cheat meal. “Every time we try something different,” she said with a smile.
The much-acclaimed arrival of McDonald’s in Transcarpathia signals an unexpected trend for the iconic American fast-food chain: In wartime Ukraine, business is booming.
This success builds on a long-running love affair between a post-Soviet country and an American brand, a reflection of Ukraine’s growing embrace of Western lifestyle.
It is also a testament to Ukraine’s rebounding wartime economy. Having secured dozens of billions in financial aid from allies and avoided runaway inflation, Ukraine is now drawing back Western companies that fled early in the war, including the Swedish furniture giant IKEA and the Spanish fashion brand Zara.
McDonald’s says it plans to open around 10 new outposts in Ukraine this year, pushing its total of operational restaurants to nearly 120, more than before Russia’s invasion over three years ago. Across the country, city councils are vying to secure a McDonald’s restaurant, knowing the chain will bring jobs and increase local tax revenues.
“Overall, this indicates that despite the military actions, Ukraine’s economy is showing positive dynamics,” Viktor Mykyta, a top economic adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a recent interview. “If a business like McDonald’s can operate here, it shows any investors that they, too, can confidently work here.”
Ukraine’s economy is projected to grow by 2 to 3 percent this year, the third consecutive year of growth, although economic output remains below prewar levels.
McDonald’s opened its first restaurant in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, in 1997. The company’s arrival was a major attraction in a country that had gained independence from the Soviet Union just six years earlier and was only beginning to open to the West. Crowds lined up for days to get a taste of the chain’s storied burgers.
As the company expanded its footprint, Ukrainians’ enthusiasm only grew. In 2011, the McDonald’s restaurant at Kyiv’s central train station ranked as the second-busiest in the world. Ukrainian children love celebrating their birthdays at McDonald’s, while students often grab Big Macs after late-night parties.
When Ukraine’s Defense Ministry recently started an army recruitment campaign offering young men a one million Ukrainian hryvnia signing bonus, about $24,000, it posted a TikTok video shot outside a McDonald’s restaurant, asking, “How many cheeseburgers can you buy for one million hryvnia?” (The answer is 15,625.)
In September 2023, Antony J. Blinken, then the U.S. secretary of state, visited Kyiv, and his Ukrainian counterpart at the time, Dmytro Kuleba, took him to a McDonald’s for a quick bite, and a bit of nostalgia from his student days.
“I would go to McDonald’s and buy a double cheeseburger, a big Coke, and that would be my hangover breakfast,” Mr. Kuleba said during the visit, as he bit into a pie.
After Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in early 2022, McDonald’s closed all of its restaurants. Some establishments, in cities like Kherson and Melitopol, were destroyed or fell under Russian occupation. Meanwhile, the brand exited the Russian market, joining a wave of departing Western companies.
As Russia’s initial invasion floundered and its troops pulled back to eastern Ukraine, life cautiously returned to Kyiv. Mr. Kuleba urged Mr. Blinken to encourage McDonald’s to resume operations. “Life is coming back,” he recalled telling him during a call. “I think it would send a powerful message if McDonald’s came back, too.”
When the chain reopened in Kyiv in September 2022, people lined for hours — a scene reminiscent of its post-Soviet debut.
The reopenings have not come without risk. The same Kyiv outpost that first opened in 1997 has been damaged several times in Russian attacks, most recently during a January drone and missile strike that shattered its storefront, blowing out its windows. It has since reopened.
Ask Ukrainians why they love McDonald’s so much, and they will inevitably answer: the taste.
While in some countries patties can be rubbery and fries soggy, Ukrainian McDonald’s food tastes noticeably fresher. One possible explanation is that the company runs its local operations directly, not through franchises, which allows for tighter quality control.
For years, only one region could not savor that distinctively Ukrainian taste: Transcarpathia, a mountainous western province bordering Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.
“Transcarpathia was the only region that didn’t have a McDonald’s,” said Mr. Mykyta, the Ukrainian presidential economic adviser, who was the head of Transcarpathia’s regional government until last fall. “It was kind of a humiliation. I have four children, and it always annoyed me to see them rush to McDonald’s somewhere abroad or in another city.”
Even as war raged, Transcarpathia worked to attract the chain, helped by the region’s relative safety, hundreds of miles from the front lines. In Uzhhorod, the regional capital, traffic flow was redesigned to accommodate a McDonald’s drive-through next to the restaurant, said Uzhhorod’s mayor, Bohdan Andriyiv.
Sofia Leshchenko, a local blogger, recalled the mounting buzz in the city as the McDonald’s neared completion in mid-April. When the opening was finally announced just a few hours in advance, crowds rushed to line up. “People were even queuing at night — yes, at night!” she said.
Mr. Andriyiv admitted he still did not quite get the hype. “It’s unhealthy food,” he said in a recent interview from his office. “I went there once, and that was the last time.”
He paused and added, “Though I might stop by for an ice cream, because I liked that.”
Mr. Andriyiv acknowledged that the opening of a McDonald’s locally would contribute “to the city’s image as a developing and attractive place.”
It is also an economic boon. McDonald’s paid over $60 million in taxes last year, on top of creating jobs. Uzhhorod is plastered with McDonald’s recruitment posters featuring smiling young servers asking, “Looking for work?”
As concerns grow that the United States, under President Trump, might abandon Ukraine, the presence of American companies like McDonald’s offers some reassurance that U.S. commitment remains strong. Andy Hunder, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, called it a clear sign of “confidence of American business in Ukraine’s future.”
Perhaps the best proof of that confidence came last month, when the two countries signed an agreement securing long-term American investment in Ukraine’s mineral wealth.
The news was almost overshadowed in Ukraine by another announcement the same day. McDonald’s said it was removing its Big Tasty burger from the Ukrainian menu.
The announcement caused an uproar in Ukraine. Some people started selling Big Tasty boxes online like precious relics for hundreds of dollars. Others joked that the removal was a secret clause in the minerals agreement.
Hours later, McDonald’s cleared the air. The Big Tasty was indeed disappearing, but it would be replaced by three new, upgraded Tasty varieties.
Ukrainians cheered with delight.
Constant Méheut reports on the war in Ukraine, including battlefield developments, attacks on civilian centers and how the war is affecting its people.
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