UPDATE: McDonald's wants to make all food for Russia locally by 2019

(Adds details in last paragraph)

MOSCOW, Jan 31 (PRIME) -- McDonald's branch in Russia plans to produce all ingredients of the food sold in the cafes locally by 2019, President Khamzat Khasbulatov said at a press conference on Tuesday.

“Whereas 27 years ago only 20% of everything that we sold in our restaurants was produced in our country, today this figure has reached 85%. And we will drive the level of local production of everything that we do in Russia to almost 100% in the next two years. We will have the entire menu produced in Russia until the end of 2018,” Khasbulatov said.

McDonald's plans to launch potato production in Russia in 2018, which will mean that all vegetables used in cooking are produced locally, he said.

Khasbulatov also said that McDonald's plans to open about 50 outlets in 2017 against 73 in 2016. “I, to tell honestly, do not know what proportion of the launched restaurants will be on account of corporate restaurants and on account of our franchisee partners,” he said.

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