American Fast Food Restaurants Find Booming Market In Russia

US fast food chains are expanding rapidly in Russia, a market that some analysts say is similar to the United States half a century ago.  Russians have lower annual income ($7,276 compared to $43,539 in the United States) but a bigger portion of their salaries is disposable and demand for fast food is rising strongly. After opening the first American fast-food restaurant in 1990, McDonald’s now has 279 restaurants in Russia; Burger King opened 22 restaurants in the last two years and Yum Brands (owner of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell) is a partner in some 350 co-branded restaurants. Demand looks set to rise; while Manhattan has 4,000 pizza restaurants for its population of 1.6 million, Moscow has just 300 for its population of 13 million.