McDonald's goes native in India

Saturday, November 3, 2012

McDonald's Corporation, based in Oak Brook, Ill., may have built its empire on burgers, but it knows how to go with the market flow.

Recently, McDonald's announced plans for its first company-owned (as opposed to franchised) restaurants in India, and they will be vegetarian only. The change is being made to meet customer preferences. Kitchens in franchise-owned restaurants there are already separated into vegetarian and non-vegetarian sections, and even non-vegetarian kitchens serve no beef or pork.  McDonald's in India already serves a "Maharaja Mac," a chicken burger on a bun. Another offering which is vegetarian, the McAloo Tikki, is made with a spicy breaded potato patty, red onions, tomatoes and a special vegetable sauce.

The first vegetarian restaurants will be built near holy pilgrimage sites, such as the Golden Temple in the northern city of Amritsar, which is sacred for Sikhs. The second one is planned for the town of Katra, the base for Hindus visiting the Vaishno Devi cave shrine. According to news reports, more extreme elements in both religions have complained loudly that the shrines were being targeted by the multinational company.

McDonald's has 33,000 outlets worldwide and only 270 in India, which has a population of 1.2 billion people, including a growing middle class. KFC, Subway and Dunkin' Donuts have already opened there and Starbucks is expected to open soon.  BF