On Thursday, Andrei Smirnov introduced Moscow to his sandwich creation, which involves cooking a mixture of hamburger meat and vegetables between two electrodes for 40 seconds, and then putting it inside a bun.
The result is a square sandwich, containing a wet, crumbling, orange-and-brown patty with an odd taste (the food is not fried, broiled, baked or boiled).
Smirnov said that his company, Smirnov and Sons (no relation to the vodka producers) has set up a franchise system and is looking for Moscow entrepreneurs to market the burgers -- the first of their type in the world, he says.
Smirnov officials say the sandwich is already available in St. Petersburg, the burger's namesake, at 27 food wagons, and the company has plans to expand to 800 locations soon.
McDonald's is hardly trembling over the competition, however.
"I've never heard of Peterburgers," said Svetlana Polyakova, a marketing manager for the huge chain. "But I am sure McDonald's will be here forever."
According to company officials, $6,420 will buy a five-year license and the equipment needed to make the Peterburger: an electrode machine, a vacuum container to keep the sandwiches warm, food trays and a uniforms with the Peterburger logo. A portable wagon goes for another $4,920. Smirnov and Sons makes it a condition of the franchise that they provide the meat.
Smirnov officials boast that a hard-working entrepreneur could recoup an investment in four months, selling 350 Peterburgers a day at 2,500 rubles each.
That works out at almost one a minute for an eight-hour day -- a considerable target, based on one reporter's taste test.
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