Moscow — Global pizza brands Domino’s and Papa John’s are preparing an assault on Russia’s provinces, betting they can turn a profit far from Moscow as online card payments become more widespread and consumers get to know foreign brands better. While stay-at-home Muscovites can order an array of international pizza brands from Sbarro and Domino’s to Papa John’s, regional cities such as Rostov-on-Don and Nizhny Novgorod are still chiefly the preserve of small local chains. Many challenges have kept global fast food brands wedded to major Russian cities, including patchy transport links, bureaucratic delays, finding an army of chefs who can maintain quality, as well as the sheer cost of shipping often perishable ingredients across a vast country that spans 11 time zones. Western fast food chains have also had to adapt menus to suit Russian palates better, once the allure of new foreign tastes has worn off. But the Russian franchisee of Domino’s Pizza, DP Eurasia, believes the time is ...
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