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US fast-food chain Carl's Jr. closes restaurants in Russia

Carl's Jr. currently has 26 restaurants in St. Petersburg, four in Novosibirsk and one in Krasnodar, making the total number of fast-food outlets due to be closed 31

© Denis Vyshinsky/TASS

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NOVOSIBIRSK, January 12. /TASS/. California-based fast-food chain Carl's Jr. announced on Monday plans to shut down more than 30 outlets in three Russian cities amid a volatile economic environment.

“This refers to restaurants in St. Petersburg, Krasnodar and Novosibirsk,” a spokeswoman for Bright Star LLC, master franchisee and operator of Carl’s Jr. restaurants in Russia, told TASS.

Carl's Jr., known for offering charbroiled burgers and freshly prepared menu items, currently has 26 restaurants in St. Petersburg, four in Novosibirsk and one in Krasnodar, making the total number of fast-food outlets due to be closed 31. Some of the restaurants had already been shut down, the spokeswoman said.

Established more than 70 years ago in Southern California, Carl’s Jr. operates over 3,400 restaurants around the world, including 48 locations in Russia. After the chain withdraws from the market in St. Petersburg, Krasnodar and Novosibirsk, some 17 outlets will be left in Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov, Kemerovo, the Moscow region and several other cities. In 2014, the company already closed three restaurants in St. Petersburg and other three in Novosibirsk.

Russia's first Carl's Jr. restaurant appeared in the city of St. Petersburg in early 2006. In 2011, the company expanded into the country's third-largest city of Novosibirsk, being the first among global fast-food chains to enter the capital of Siberia. Hamburger chain Burger King opened its first restaurants there in 2013. McDonald's chain started expanding to Siberia in 2014.

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