When Mcdonald's set up its first restaurant in India in 1996, it faced a difficult challenge. The market for fast food in India was expected to grow fast but traditional beef burgers would be complete non-starters in a largely vegetarian and cow-revering India. Adapting their offerings to suit local tastes and preferences was the key to success and the company needed to be imaginative. Thus came to life the ubiquitous and delicious McAloo Tikki burger. Or, the special Chatpata (spicy) McAloo Tikki.
The product is simple enough. The core product is a vegetable burger made of potato, a vegetable Indians love. What makes it special, though, are the spicy augmentations that an Indian customer expects at a reasonable price. For instance, the Chatpata McAloo Tikki comes with assorted traditional Indian spices, peas, vegetable-tomato mayonnaise and onions, another vegetable that is central to most Indian cuisines, at 20 rupees (around 45 US cents). But, these are really the minimal augmentations. The extra service or enhancement that exceeds the customers’ expectations is really the superior home delivery services in most cities where McDonald's operates. This is different from the conventional 'take-away' facilities which are popular in western countries, especially in the US; the home delivery services in India, in addition to the vegetarian offering, have been extremely successful in winning customers over.
Needless to say, sales of McAloo is booming; it's the largest selling product at most McDonald franchisees and accounts for a significant proportion of revenues. Advertisements exclusively focused on the McAloo Tikki have been targeted at families. The company, bolstered by its success, intends to forge ahead, into the smaller towns and cities. But, could they think of a potential product, one that would challenge the McAloo and set the bar higher? What about a McAloo Chicken Tikki burger? Well, I'm already lovin the very idea of it!
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