Every day more and more foreign companies invest in Russia. The amount of disposable income increased for residents of the major metropolitan areas of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Retail and leisure companies from Europe and the US are looking to enter or expand and there is good interest from business people in the Middle East and Asia. The rapidly growing food and wine market demonstrates the scale of Russia's economic boom. Every day new opportunities open up in Russia to invest in other countries. There is a huge area of ​​untapped wealth available to exploit. As time went on the food industry only made more profits. The Russian food industry consists of more than 25,000 enterprises that employ 1.5 million people. Food sales amount to approximately $70 billion and this value is growing rapidly, reflecting growth in household incomes. With a contribution of 11-12% to gross national production, the food sector is the fourth largest industry in Russia. The locals are welcoming and will be the first to sense difficulties and also recognize opportunities. The vastness of the country, the differences between the provinces, the wide variations in the level of development and the hundreds of large cities scattered along 2,000 miles from Smolensk to Vladivostok and from the frozen north to the Georgian border: this is a country with centuries of history but virtually no experience of the modern world. The rules of engagement are quite clear. You need a local partner, ideally a publicly traded company with a commitment to transparency and high accounting standards. You bring international real estate expertise, they bring market understanding and contacts with the authorities. Big cities are abuzz with projects, but there are plenty of opportunities opening up elsewhere. The key is to ensure that the partner truly has the understanding and contacts for the particular area involved. McDonald's has achieved an excellent return on its investment in Russia. The amount of people who visit their locations every day is staggering. McDonald's now operates 103 restaurants in Moscow, Moscow Region, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Samara and Kazan. Not only does McDonald's in Russia serve more than 200,000 customers every day, but, since its opening on January 31, 1990, McDonald's has served more than 300 million customers and more than 66 million Big Mac sandwiches.