Posted on 03/18/2022 11:50:41 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The operator of hundreds of Burger King locations in Russia has “refused” to close them down, stymying the restaurant operator’s attempts to leave the country.
Restaurant Brands International, the Toronto-based entity behind Burger King, Tim Horton’s, and other fast food chains, owns just 15 percent of Russia’s Burger King joint venture. The rest is controlled by a group of investors led by Alexander Kolobov, a Russian businessman who is responsible for day-to-day management of the roughly 800 Burger King locations there.
RBI international president David Shear said in a letter to employees Thursday that the company had contacted Kolobov to demand that all Russian Burger Kings cease operations, and Kolobov refused. It has proved difficult to withdraw from the complicated web of business agreements the company established there 10 years ago, he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, has vowed to nationalize businesses that try to pull out of the country. And many corporations are stuck there because of complicated legal agreements that put local control of individual stores in the hands of Russians.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I don’t know what they were expecting.
Trust fund babies: We’ve decided to close BKs in Russia and cut all ties with Russia.
Russians - Ok - we’ll keep the stores open and keep making the food and keep the profits ourselves
Trust fund babies: You can’t do that - that’s illegal!
It’s infuriatingly fascinating as I’ve been having this same discussion with similar friends that I thought were smarter than this.
“What Putin did is illegal and against the world order”
“How?”
“Well we need to stop him.”
“Ok, but we need to send troops in to stop him.”
“Well we don’t want a war.”
“We’re already IN a war.”
“Yeah and Putin is a real bully and needs to be stopped.”
“Then we need to go to war with our troops.”
“No... you don’t understand, Putin’s a bully! and Evil! How can you sympathize with him.”
“I’m sorry - what part of there’s only ONE way this ends as he’s not listening to diplomacy.”
It’s like everyone has completely forgotten (or maybe never understood) how civilizational politics WORK!
I wonder how many of the tough talkers would throw away their life’s work just to be told how cool they are.
That is very unwise. If people think you will 'nationalize' (read: Steal), they are a lot less inclined to invest in your country.
“. Business is just Business, it is not a political arm.”
That was true under the old American Republic. But in a fascist government there is a private/public partnership. Mussolini invented it.
They used to use beef tallow for the fries, then switched to Franken oil.
Yep, cabbage and broccoli sammiches.
I did Nazi that coming...
Of course, when you disconnect them from SWIFT, confiscate all their gold and currency holdings in the west, freeze out their entire banking system from the west, put import/export bans on everything from Disney movies and tech equipment, to Vodka and concert pianists, to oil and gas, and every fortune 500 company pulls out of Russia, etc, and then you are straining forward on the war leash...they get this nutty idea that you may not be planning on investing with them for the foreseeable future.
It must be a weird Russian thought process. Honestly, I was in the same loop until I realized Kate Upton was truly not planning a future with me and I should structure my world accordingly.
Well, that is because Kate Upton is with ME.
As the article states:
It has proved difficult to withdraw from the complicated web of business agreements the company established there 10 years ago
I know several individuals who own several franchises with Jets Pizzas and Dominoes. You may own the franchise but the corporation owns you.
They want you to offer specials of one pizza free with every one sold, you offer that special no matter how bad business is, even if you are currently losing money.
The corporation also dictates what the interior of your establishment is to look like as well as the hours of operation they demand you keep.
Bottom line is, here in the U.S., you are under contractual obligation to do what the corporation says or they can and will close you down.
As stated in the above article, those contracts are more complicated in Russia.
But it wouldn't surprise me if Corporate either shuts them down or stops payments to the suppliers of those franchise owners.........
Under Communism, there was little in the stores. If you wanted decent meat and vegetables or consumer manufactured goods, you had to go to the mafia. They controlled a lot more than drugs, prostitution, etc. They probably got more powerful after Communism. Probably that is where Burger King Russia will go with no US supplies.
“Then we need to go to war with our troops.”
“No... you don’t understand, Putin’s a bully! and Evil! How can you sympathize with him.”
LOL!!! We don’t need to go to war and/or risk nuclear war, we just need to stop him........
“They used to use beef tallow for the fries, then switched to Franken oil.”
I know that’s the case here, but I hadn’t been updated on that for Mother Russia. In any case, I’ll be sure to bring it up at our next dead drop.
Well corporate may shut them down, but they shut them down anyway. The Russian Burger Kings will probably find a way to stay in business independent of the US Burger King Corporation. It is their only alternative to going out of business.
“Well, that is because Kate Upton is with ME.”
Why does that not surprise anyone here?
“That is very unwise. If people think you will ‘nationalize’ (read: Steal), they are a lot less inclined to invest in your country.”
I think time will tell on this one. After all, you have countries like Argentina defaulting left and right, and then banks rush in to loan them money the next week. In this case, it wouldn’t surprise me if Russia works with the companies to bring them back, by compensating them (at least somewhat) for their losses during this mess...assuming we get through this like adults. After all, Russia was a great market for them until now.
I told her that some people here think you just wanted her for her cat-daddy body and that I wanted her more holistically. She said she didn’t create that whole body just for that... she just wanted to be objectified. I hope you both are happy... you deserve each other.
Here's why:
"The switch was all because of a man named Phil Sokolof. After having a heart attack in 1966, Sokolof began lobbying against cholesterol and fat in fast food, specifically targeting McDonald's. He eventually got the company's attention, leading the chain to stop cooking its fries in beef tallow in 1990"
In other words, one multi-millionaire sonofabitch destroyed the taste of McDonald's french fries and put an end to the worlds best tasting fries simply because he couldn't control his eating habits.......
This is a lesson on how one man can change the world for the worst if he is a multi-millionaire...LOL!
“Corporate either shuts them down or stops payments to the suppliers of those franchise owners........”
How? They are buying the ingredients locally. They have no ability to shut them down if the local government won’t play ball.
“Bottom line is, here in the U.S., you are under contractual obligation to do what the corporation says or they can and will close you down.
As stated in the above article, those contracts are more complicated in Russia.
But it wouldn’t surprise me if Corporate either shuts them down or stops payments to the suppliers of those franchise owners.”
It can get interesting. For example, is the machinery used to cook their burgers imported from the West, or do they produce it themselves? If imported from the West, then does it have remote (web) control so as to be able to disable it? I could see having little ‘back doors’ in hardware like this, in the 21st century.
As to the main suppliers, they’re all obviously local, so they can be paid by the Russian management, which is very likely the case anyway, so nothing much there.
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