Westlife to expand next-gen McDonald's outlets to Bengaluru

Bengaluru will be the second city after Mumbai where these stores will be unveiled

McDonald's alliance with Amit Jatia's Westlife Development in the south and west of the country is going strong. The fast-food major has been embroiled in a war with its north and east India partner Vikram Bakshi.

On Monday, Westlife Development said it would expand its "next-generation" restaurants and open five such stores in Bengaluru during the Dussehra weekend. 
 

“Bengaluru will be the second city to see the launch of these (next-gen) restaurants after Mumbai," Seema Arora Nambiar, senior vice-president, strategy, innovation and capability, McDonald's India, said. Mumbai has five such outlets.

"We are also launching 12 new products in one go across all our outlets," she said, adding this was the first time McDonald's was doing this in India. 

Westlife had rolled out its next-gen outlets in March in Mumbai, aimed at digitally-savvy consumers. These restaurants have digital kiosks for smooth ordering to digital menu display boards, free wi-fi, gaming zones and cell phone charging points. These stores also offer table-service, in a departure from the principle of self-service that has characterised McDonald's restaurants across the globe. 

Westlife is likely to roll-out more such stores, as the pressure to reinvent and stay ahead of competition grows. 

India's market for chained restaurants, including cafés and quick-service restaurants, is expected to grow at 20 per cent a year to reach Rs 51,000 crore by 2021, a report by the National Restaurant Association of India said. In 2016, this market was valued at Rs 20,400 crore in the country.

Westlife had said earlier it was spending 10-15 per cent more in terms of investment per store on next-gen outlets in comparison to regular McDonald's restaurants. Analysts say the increase in revenue from the next-gen outlets is also proportionally higher.

The new product range launched by Westlife attempts to bring together Indian and international flavours, something the company has been doing over the past few quarters. In January, it revamped the breakfast menu, giving it both an Indian and healthy twist. This was followed by a range of soups, salads and rice bowls.