Russia's McDonald's replacement says it's serving 2 million customers a day, but diners are divided on whether it's as good as the original

• Russia's McDonald's replacement, Vkusno & tochka, opened a year ago.
• The chain can't sell iconic McDonald's items like the Big Mac and has created substitutes instead.

One year after Russia's McDonald's replacement opened, its owner says it now serves two million customers a day. The country has an estimated population of around 142 million.

Vkusno & tochka, which translates as "Tasty and that's it," took over the majority of Russia's McDonald's restaurants after the burger giant pulled out of the country following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The first locations with the new menu, logo, and name opened in June 2022.

Alexander Govor, the Russian businessman who bought the former McDonald's sites, told Reuters that the new company was opening restaurants slightly faster than planned and hoped to have more than 900 by the end of the year.

The company previously said it planned to reopen all of the 850 former McDonald's sites by the end of summer 2022, and reach 1,000 stores across Russia within the company's first five years.

Vkusno & tochka is unable to sell iconic McDonald's menu items such as the Big Mac, Filet-O-Fish, and McFlurry, but that hasn't stopped the company from thinking up replacements, including fish burgers, chocolate-topped ice cream, and the "Big Hit," a Big Mac substitute that comes with two beef patties, lettuce, gherkins, cheese, and its own special sauce.

Most of the menu is made with the same ingredients and equipment as when it was McDonald's.

Oleg Paroev, the chain's CEO, told Reuters that Vkusno & tochka had sold more than 24 million Big Hits since it first appeared on menus in late February.

Paroev previously said that Vkusno & yochka sold 120,000 burgers on its opening day, which he said was higher than any other day in McDonald's Russia's history.

But customers are divided on how good the new menu tastes, Reuters reported.

"For me the quality hasn't dropped, I really like it," one customer told the outlet. "The taste, the quality, I like it all."

Another customer, however, said that Vkusno & tochka hadn't successfully replaced McDonald's. "The taste has changed, the fries definitely have at least," they said.

When the Big Hit was first released, one customer told Reuters that it had "100%" got better and the sauce was "tastier," while another said the bun had "got worse" and fell apart when diners tried to tuck in.

Vkusno & tochka's hurried opening last summer appeared to be somewhat haphazard with a series of operational problems. Some items were sold in plain white or brown packaging, staff served customers the old McDonald's sauce packets but scribbled the logo out with a pen, there were shortages of fries, and Coca-Cola was pulled from the menu. Some diners also claimed that they were served moldy burgers and out-of-date sauces.

A reporter who visited what used to be McDonald's flagship Moscow restaurant last summer for Insider said that the fries "seemed a bit sadder, less salty and crispy" than she was expecting. "The new 'fake' Russian McDonald's might look almost the same, but much of the taste and fun have disappeared – just like Ronald McDonald himself," she wrote.

Have you been to Vkusno & tochka? Send this reporter your thoughts on the restaurants at gdean@insider.com.