In India, McDonald’s Plans Vegetarian Outlets

Burger giant McDonald’s Corp. said it plans to open vegetarian-only restaurants in India next year—a world-wide first for the beef-centric fast-food chain.

 

In India, McDonald’s restaurants have already dropped beef and pork from their menus, adhering to the religious practices of Hindus and Muslims, who make up most of India’s population. McDonald’s kitchens in India are also divided into separate sections for cooking vegetarian and nonvegetarian food. 

“In markets across the world, McDonald’s respects local cultures and has adopted our menu and dining experience to local preferences. The new restaurants in pilgrimage areas will be vegetarian-only because of the specific area and customer base,” a McDonald’s spokeswoman said in a statement. 

Part of McDonald’s success globally has been attributed to its ability to cater to local tastes without losing its brand image. In India, it has numerous vegetarian versions of some of its American classics, like the McVeggie burger and McSpicy Paneer, as well as chicken offerings. On the value menu, the McAloo Tikki burger, which uses a spiced potato-based patty, is a top seller, accounting for as much as one-fourth of the restaurants’ total sales in the country.

India Real Time

With ‘Veg’ Outlets, McDonald’s Targets Pilgrims

McDonald’s first vegetarian-only outlet will open in mid-2013, near the Golden Temple in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in northern India, where consumption of meat is forbidden at the shrine. The company then plans to open other exclusively veggie outlets near Vaishno Devi cave shrine in northwestern Indian Kashmir, near a Hindu pilgrimage site that draws several hundred thousand worshipers each year.

For McDonald’s, India is still a relatively small market, with just about 270 restaurants out of its 33,000 world-wide. Its U.S. competitor, Yum Brands Inc., YUM +0.40% which owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, has about 480 locations in India. 

With its growing consumer class and rising trend of eating out, India has been touted as the next emerging market to follow China in offering a wealth of development opportunities for U.S. restaurant chains. Chains like McDonald’s and Yum Brands are hoping to corner the market for American fast-food in the region.