After having bought the rights of the chain together with the co-owner Anton Pinskiy they renamed it «Stars Coffee»
A pro Putin rapper has reopened the previously Starbucks-owned coffee chain with a new name, “Stars Coffee,” the latest high-profile rebranding of a major Western chain after an unprecedented corporate exodus from Russia.
On Thursday, August 18, rapper Timati and restaurateur Anton Pinskiy – the duo that acquired the rights of the chain in Russia – attended the opening of the first of 130 cafes previously owned by Starbucks. During the party in central Moscow, the couple also revealed the chain’s new logo, which replaces the iconic Starbucks mermaid with a woman wearing the traditional Russian kokoshnik headdress, but is otherwise quite similar.
Seattle-based Starbucks announced in May that it would be exiting the Russian market after nearly 15 years, joining hundreds of other major Western brands that have fled the country following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, dozens of Western companies have agreed to sell their assets to friendly Russian businessmen in the Kremlin at hefty discounts. Russian authorities have actively encouraged the takeovers, intended to comfort ordinary Russians who can continue to live the Western way of life amid the country’s growing isolation.
Timati, whose real name is Timur Yunusov, was a staunch supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as a self-described friend of Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov.
In 2015, the rapper released a song called “My best friend is Vladimir Putin” which describes the president as a “superhero”. Timati was also behind a pro-government song called Moscow, in which he boasted that the Russian capital “doesn’t organize gay parades.” And it quickly became the most “unwelcome” song in the history of Russian YouTube.
The reopening of Starbucks marks the second high-profile rebranding of a Western food chain after former McDonald’s restaurants resumed their operations under a new name, “Vkusno & tochka” (“Just Tasty”).
Since then “Vkusno & tochka” has been hampered by Western sanctions and has struggled to preserve its old menu, forcing the company to temporarily stop serving its fries and potato wedges.
It was not immediately clear what the menu of the new coffee chain will contain.
Shortly after the acquisition of Starbucks in Russia, Timati promised not to “disappoint the millions of coffee lovers” in the country: “We have the opportunity not only to change the sign, but to implement new quality imports!”.
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