No McDonald's in Kazakhstan Since 20232026
McDonald’s operated in Kazakhstan from 2016 until January 2023, when the licence was terminated after its beef supply collapsed; the 24 stores now trade as I’m.
Why Kazakhstan has no Big Mac price
McDonald’s was in Kazakhstan from 8 March 2016 — the first restaurant at 49 Bogenbai Batyr Avenue in Astana — until January 2023, when the master franchisee Food Solutions KZ formally terminated the licence. At its peak the chain reached 24 outlets across Astana, Almaty, Atyrau, Aktyubinsk, Kostanay and Karaganda.
This is the one clean supply-chain exit in the set. Kazakhstan never built a domestic patty supply and depended entirely on a Cremonini plant in Orenburg, across the Russian border. When McDonald’s Corporation withdrew from Russia in 2022, that plant stopped supplying Kazakhstan, and a functioning seven-year-old market ran out of beef.
There was an awkward ownership chapter running alongside it. Kairat Boranbayev, the principal behind the master franchisee, was arrested on 17 March 2022 — about three weeks after the invasion of Ukraine — on charges of large-scale embezzlement from the state energy company QazaqGas, part of the broader reckoning with the Nazarbayev-era elite. He was sentenced in June 2024. Supply-chain failure gave both sides a clean reason to end the relationship without having to address any of that.
In August 2023 the same 24 buildings reopened as I’m, run by the renamed Food Solutions KZ with a near-identical menu. Its closest analogue to a Big Mac is the Double Big Burger — two patties, lettuce, cheese, sauce, sesame bun — positioned exactly where a Big Mac would sit on a McDonald’s menu.
The Economist has never tracked Kazakhstan, so there is no historical series to lose here either. What the country gives is a moderate-quality shadow reading: a successor chain on McDonald’s former infrastructure, a known hero item, and a currency with a transparent official rate. We keep the confidence low, because I’m has no Big Mac equivalent as such and menu prices lifted from third-party write-ups are not verified receipts.
Either way it is not a Big Mac, so this page shows no Big Mac price.
Read the full story
This page is the short version. The full write-up goes through the timeline, the sources and the numbers that do exist.
Why there's no McDonald's in Kazakhstan — full articleStatus at a glance
| McDonald's restaurants | None |
|---|---|
| Status | Licence terminated January 2023 — 24 restaurants rebranded to I’m |
| Successor brand | I'm |
| Closest local equivalent | I'm Double Big Burger · ₸2,690 KZT (~$5.52) — not a McDonald's product, and not a Big Mac Index data point |
| Big Mac Index coverage | Not tracked — there is no Big Mac to price |
| Region | Asia |
| Sources | Bloomberg — McDonald's exits Kazakhstan as war limits Russian meat supplies (Jan 2023) , Interfax — Former McDonald's in Kazakhstan re-open as I'm (Aug 2023) , Qazmonitor — Ex-McDonald's restaurants rebrand as I'm , Eurasianet — Russia's war forces McDonald's out of Kazakhstan , Young Pioneer Tours — I'm Burger menu & prices Kazakhstan |
Frequently asked questions
Is there a McDonald’s in Kazakhstan?
No. The master franchisee terminated the licence in January 2023 and all 24 restaurants stopped operating as McDonald’s.
Why did McDonald’s leave Kazakhstan?
Kazakhstan never built a domestic patty supply and sourced its beef from a plant in Orenburg, Russia. When McDonald’s Corporation withdrew from Russia in 2022, that supply line closed and the Kazakh franchise ran out of usable beef.
What replaced McDonald’s in Kazakhstan?
A brand called I’m, launched in August 2023 by the renamed former franchisee Food Solutions KZ, reopened the same 24 locations with a near-identical menu.
Why isn't Kazakhstan in the Big Mac Index?
The Big Mac Index compares the price of one identical product across countries. Kazakhstan has no McDonald's restaurant, so there is no Big Mac to price and The Economist publishes no row for it. We list Kazakhstan with an editorial note explaining the absence instead of a number — see our methodology.
Dig deeper
- See all 76 countries on the interactive map
- Full 2026 country-by-country breakdown
- Limits of the Big Mac Index
- How I get this data (methodology)
- Know something this page gets wrong, or has a McDonald's opened since? Email me — corrections are credited inline.