A reason to go back??? Chennai's first McDonald's!

I almost thought this was an April Fool's prank..




Burger sold for Rs.400,000* at McDonald's Chennai
Posted April 1st, 2008 by Mudassir Rizwan

Economy
By IANS

Chennai : A vegetable burger, that ordinarily is priced at Rs.42, was sold for a whopping Rs.400,000 at McDonald's first Chennai outlet Tuesday.

Kick-starting its first outlet at Ascendas IT Park, McDonald's auctioned its first burger and donated the proceeds to the Banyan, a city-based NGO.

The successful bidder was Shiva Kumaar P.R., managing director of Saravana Bhavan Holdings LLC.

"The opening of the restaurant in Chennai is in line with our expansion plans in southern India," Amit Jatia, managing director of Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt Ltd, told the media.

The Mumbai-based Hardcastle, which is operating in southern and western parts of India, is a 50:50 joint venture between McDonald's and the Jatia family.


The company has set up 56 McDonald's outlets in the two regions and has plans to increase the numbers.

"We will be opening around 30 restaurants in these two regions in two years time with each outlet involving around Rs.30 million outlay excluding lease rental," Jatia added.

In the south, the company is looking at Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad for expansion apart from other towns like Coimbatore.

Declining to give the average amount per bill Jatia added, "The average turnaround time per table is around 30 minutes. We serve around 4,000 to 6,000 customers per day."

According to him, part of McDonald's success in India is attributed to its ability to build an efficient supply chain and to respect for Indian customs and culture.

"We source fresh lettuce from Pune, Delhi, Nainital and Ooty, Cheese from Dynamix Dairies, Maharashtra, fresh buns from Bector Foods and others," he added.

Each outlet has just three days stock of food articles and there are no central commissaries.



*Rs. 400,000 is approximately $10,000 USD


Now those of you not in India please note this line: The average turnaround time per table is around 30 minutes. 30 MINUTES!!! Imagine, just for a second, how long McDonald's would stay in business in the US if the average turnaround time per table here was 30 minutes. Think about the fact that people wait, at some points, over half an hour to eat at McDonald's. Do not ever doubt the power of a brand image worldwide.

Doing Business In India

I was reading blogs today and this one (for obvious reasons) caught my attention: Tips on Doing Business in India

Of course I investigated further and looked at PMA's whole list of recommendations for doing business in the Indian market. My favorite was this one: You should try to arrive on time for meetings. Indians are impressed with punctuality. I find 'impressed' an odd word choice here. No Indians that I really knew were impressed by punctuality. In fact, I always got the feeling that it was more of an inconvenience to the person when you showed up exactly on time. What this statement doesn't (and should) go on to say is: Of course, they won't be ready on time for you. Be prepared to sit and wait for the person. The more important the person you are meeting with, the longer you may have to wait.

Overall, though, I was impressed by the way they presented the differences in positive light. Consider, Since they do not like to give negative answers, Indians may give an affirmative answer but be deliberately vague about any specific details. This will require you to look for non-verbal cues, such as a reluctance to commit to an actual time for a meeting or an enthusiastic response. where most people would have said, Indians can't give you a straight answer! They tell you that things will be accomplished, but then they don't follow through!

One thing I'm surprised they didn't mention was getting used to the Indian head-bobble (though maybe that doesn't come into play as much in business negotiations). A search on Google will turn up scores of Westerners utterly confused by or trying to explain the mystery of the movement. Here is an example of it (the exaggerate raised eyebrows are an important feature!)and here it is in practice (the websiteI got this from later said they found out it wasn't actually piracy-The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari actually sells for Rs. 175 there).

The Indian head bobble is something I wish I had written about it earlier (as in while I was still there), but I guess it is just something I picked up along the way. I didn't even really notice until friends pointed it out. Upon reflection, I really think learning it and learning which situations to use it in is an important step to adjusting to Indian culture.

Goodbyes

Several friends have recently pointed out that I have not really explained here what was going on in my life, so I will attempt to remedy that in the next few days. I'm not sure why I delayed these postings (I've definately had plenty of time!); in some ways, I think that I might not have been ready to pull out some of these memories and think about everything that happened...

At the end of October, I put my papers down (that's resigned to those of you in the US) and prepared to leave India (for good?). I spent a couple of weeks wrapping up things in Chennai (it's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in 2 years!) and flew back to the US a little before Thanksgiving. Since then I have been staying with my parents while looking for a job back here in the good ole' US of A.

Anyway, I'm sure I will share more about that with you later, but for now, I thought I would leave you with a few pictures of the people I said goodbye to in Chennai...


My team of communication trainers

Crystal & Zach

Vijaya & Narayan...who got married after I left...Congratulations you 2!







Log

My supervisor/call back team-

I managed to go 2.5 years in India without getting cake

smeared all over my face (a common occurance on birthdays

and other occasions in India) UNTIL this group stepped in-thanks, guys!

Anita & Family. Anita was my friend, advisor, co-worker, co-conspirator, co-sufferer...and a lot more besides! She taught me everything I know about being a trainer on the production floor! I owe her a ton!