McDonald's to enter Himachal

Global fast food giant McDonald's has announced its plans to expand across northern India. The expansion plan would include the opening of retail outlets in Himachal Pradesh, said a top company official.

"We plan to open 14 family restaurants, and six kiosks to take our current strength to 84 in India. The new units will be located in Agra, Allahabad, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Dehra Dun and Chandigarh, among others," said Vikram Bakshi, managing director, McDonald's India in Kasuali on Saturday.

"We even plan to start home delivery services in Chandigarh from June this year. We plan to enter Himachal by the beginning of next year by opening outlets on the Kalka-Shimla and Kullu-Manali national highways," Bakshi added.

"The expansion plan will involve an investment of Rs 400 crore and a total of 100 outlets in the country," Bakshi said.

Public convenience places such as national highways, expressways, airports, railway stations are some of the targetted spots for our outlets" he added.

He said the quick service restaurant industry was growing at a fast speed in India.

McDonald's has a chain of 30,000 restaurants across 120 countries.

McDonald's express kiosks and home delivery facilities are its latest offerings to the public, say company officials.

After consolidating its position in India since it opened its first store in 1996, McDonald's India is well on its way to making net profit this year and has lined up investments to the tune of Rs 400 crore for expansion in new cities.

"McDonald's has established itself as a respectable brand in the last few years and we will now be entering a new phase to establish a pan-India presence," Bakshi said.

McDonald's India is a locally-owned company, managed by two Indian joint venture partners. While restaurants in the northern region are owned and managed by Bakshi under Connaught Plaza Restaurants, Amit Jatia has the JV for the western region under Hardcastle Restaurants.

So far, the indian venture has seen investments of Rs 800 crore.