Burger King and Papa Johns are struggling to close all their Russian restaurants
CNN
A few weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin began his assault on Ukraine, American restaurants said they would pull out of Russia. But many of them remain open.
McDonald's, Starbucks, Papa Johns and the owner of Burger King, among others, have said that they would either shut down operations in the country or pull support from restaurants there. Making good on those promises, however, is proving easier said than done.
Take, for example, Burger King. Restaurant Brands International says it has pulled corporate support from the roughly 800 Burger King locations in Russia. But it can't force those locations to close. That's because they aren't operated by the company — instead, they're controlled by an operator who, according to RBI, has "refused" to close the restaurants.