Remember the first Moscow McDonald's? It was the first fast food restaurant to open its doors in the Soviet Union. On its opening day in 1990, more than 30,000 people lined up for as long as six hours in the middle of a Moscow January to get inside.

And, of course, Russians loved the unbridled freedom of fast food so much that they immediately tore down Communism a few months later … or something like that.

The whole thing was the doing of George Cohon, the Toronto-based head of McDonald’s Canada.

Produced by John Richardson & Tristin Hopper
Edit & Photo illustration: John Richardson

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