Thursday, January 10, 2013

“Our prices are still low...”

B&E: Can you reveal to us, the initial ground work that was done by the company before entering the Indian market?

VB: The initial five-six years went into understanding the market and in setting up an adequate cold storage system. Setting up this extensive cold chain distribution system has involved the transfer of state-of-the-art food processing technology by McDonald’s and its international suppliers to pioneering Indian entrepreneurs, who are today an integral part of the cold chain.

B&E: Was it difficult to popularise the concept of QSR in the land of samosa eaters?

VB: From the very beginning, unlike the other players, we Indianised our menu and always kept its pricing easy on the pocket of Indians, (a strategy) which I term as branded affordability.

B&E: Who were your biggest competitors when you commenced operations? Were you worried about the other global brands that were entering the country then?

VB: Not really (on the question of whether other global QSRs were competitors), rather the local branded and unbranded players were our key competitors. Even the roadside aaloo-tikki vendor was our competitor.

B&E: Coming back to the present, where players like Burger King are gearing up for India and Indian entrepreneurs are planning to create Indian QSR brands, do you think that it’s a potential threat for you?

VB: No, because we are very popular among the Indian consumers and we also offer a wide range of products. And at a time when most of the other players have increased their prices, we have still been able to keep our prices comparatively low. And when it comes to delivery, we started McDelivery way back in 2004 and we have always customised it depending on the place where delivery is needed.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
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