Restaurateur and rapper take on former Domino's Pizza outlets in Russia (updated)
30/08/2023 22:25
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This content was produced in Russia, where the law
restricts
coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine.
(Adds DPR Eurasia comment in paragraph 6)
MOSCOW, Aug 30 (Reuters) - A Russian restaurateur and a
pro-Kremlin rapper who together bought Starbucks' business in
Russia last year are now taking over the Russian assets of
Domino's Pizza, they announced on Wednesday.
Anton Pinskiy and Timati said they would run the restaurants
under the barely changed brand Domino Pizza, with the 'i' in
Domino replaced by the equivalent Russian letter и.
They said they would retain the franchise's partners, 120
restaurants and more than 2,000 employees in Russia. Pinskiy
told reporters the pair had already invested hundreds of
millions of roubles in the business.
Timati, whose real name is Timur Yunusov, is a rapper-turned
businessman who already owns a big burger chain called Black
Star. He has a long track record of support for the Kremlin,
appearing with another performer, Sasha Chest, in a 2015 song
with the lyric "My best friend is President Putin".
The announcement came nine days after DP Eurasia DPEU.L ,
the operator of the Domino's Pizza brand in Russia, Turkey,
Azerbaijan and Georgia, said it would file for bankruptcy for
its Russian business after giving up attempts to sell it.
On Wednesday a DP Eurasia spokesperson said the company had
no further comment beyond confirming that the bankruptcy
petition had been filed and no sale process had occurred.
Western companies that pulled out of Russia when it sent its
army into Ukraine last year have in many cases had to write off
the value of their business there or sell their operations at
huge discounts.
Russia passed a decree in April allowing the state to take
over the assets of companies from "unfriendly" countries in
retaliation for foreign moves against Russian companies.
In July, the government seized control of the Russian
subsidiaries of French yoghurt maker Danone and Danish brewer
Carlsberg. Dutch brewer Heineken HEIN.AS said last week it had
sold its Russian operations for a symbolic one euro.
The shakeout has led to several high-profile rebrandings,
with Lego stores becoming "World of Cubes", Krispy Kreme
morphing into "Krunchy Dream", and McDonald's restaurants being
relaunched as "Vkusno & tochka", or "Tasty and that's it".
After the Starbucks deal, Pinskiy and Timati unveiled their
new brand, Stars Coffee, in August 2022. Pinskiy later said he
paid around 500 million roubles ($6 million) for the assets.
He said he had also participated in the tender to buy
McDonald's MCD.N former restaurants in Russia and had even
signed a preliminary contract before ultimately losing out to
businessman and McDonald's franchisee Alexander Govor.
(Reporting by Olga Popova, writing by Mark Trevelyan, editing
by Nick Macfie and Stephen Coates)