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.
I think setting proper expectation about the wait time is not at all a bad idea. Well no body minds waiting over 30 mins JUST to be seated in Olive Garden or Red Lobster or some Mexican restaurant in the US, not to forget the drive thru experience in McDonalds. Here we are talking about the FIRST McDonalds in Chennai, where the first VEGGIE burger was sold for $10,000. With that kind of money I would be ordering the entire dollar menu EVERY DAY for the rest of my life. My personal experience at McDonalds in Delhi - Agra highway tells me that it’s not going to be a bad experience at all.
ReplyDeleteAlso the fact that McDonalds is going to server around 4000 ~ 6000 customer per day tells me that they have a plan in place.
Note: All my time reference is purely about weekend and peak hour of service.
Sounds like you made a big decision to leave such a momentous event.
ReplyDeleteokay.... let me set the McDonald's thing straight.
ReplyDeletePoints based 1( being poor) 10 ( great!)
1.TIME: I was surprised about the wait time myself. But from the time I ordered and paid my bill, I was in and out less then 3 min. With having to stand in line for 5 or so min. SO not bad India. 8 points
2: variety : Well this is not going to score as well. We have chicken sandwich 2 in fact. But only 1 taste like it does back home. We have the fries, which taste GREAT! We have ice cream! But we don't have beef, nor nuggets, and the kids meals don't come with French fries. SO I give it a 6
3: Cleanness: Pretty good here. so a 8
Overall, Its nice to have a little flavors from home. But if you want something to think about. Here you go.
KFC---- How long do you have to wait in the drive thru to get food? 10 min, 20 min, etc.....
I will tell you the time it takes to get KFC in chennai.
Sounds like you were busy.
ReplyDeleteIt's been 6 years, I thought we might have a conversation...
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