The Soviet Union may be more outward-looking under Mikhail Gorbachev, but a feature on Moscow television last week was nonetheless a stopper. The news program International Panorama showed a favorable five-minute report on McDonald's. Filmed at one of its restaurants in New York City, the segment highlighted the efficiency of the fast-food operation, an uncommon tribute in a land devoted to disdaining capitalism. The salute encouraged McDonald's to hope that its ten-year effort to open restaurants in the Soviet Union will at last succeed.
But Pizza Hut also hopes to win the fast-food race to Moscow. The PepsiCo subsidiary announced that...