Q] This year, McDonald’s completes 30 years in India. How are you keeping the brand relevant for the teens and young adults here, when most other brands of that era are failing?
The brand came to India when I was only four years old, and I still find it exciting. I am 34 now—I have seen it grow, with my parents building it brick by brick. We’re fortunate that it is a powerful brand with a strong global connection. Our recent campaign ‘Let’s Family at McD’ builds on the thought that McDonald’s has a place for everyone. When I was in school there was a McDonald’s—close by in the Fort area, where we would have our Coke floats and aloo tikkis post-school and post-football matches. The hangout occasions for today’s youth might be slightly different, but McDonald’s still stands for that place where they can be themselves, can bring their work or gaming family.
Q] McDonald’s has always prided itself on its customisations to meet the Indian taste. Today, what percentage of your menu is Indian and how does it work out for you considering that a lot of teenagers are attracted to global menus like Korean? What’s the balance like?
Around 90-95 per cent of our menu is local. We’ve created our core products for India, be it the aloo tikki or McVeggie; we have some global core products but primarily the protein we serve in India is only chicken, not beef and pork. We’ve done a fantastic job with the menu innovation. Both old and new customers are flocking to it. The most recent campaign we launched—our extra value meal at `99—has brought many new generation customers to our restaurants. We do limited-time promotions. We launched the Korean flavours for a quarter, a trend that our team identified. This year, we’ll be testing a couple of other themes too. We might go further with our spicy portfolio. Our spicy paneer burger, mixed spicy chicken burger are locally innovated and created products which have found global fanfare as well.
Q] McDonald’s Happy Meal toy has been a big draw for kids. Today, is there an innovation or a collectible at the QSR chain that has the same impact?
We’ve been experimenting a lot with merchandise. Most recently, we launched bag charms which were sold out across multiple stores. In addition to that, the happy meal platform for children is a great advantage we have as a brand. Unfortunately, for the last few years, it has not been available at our restaurants, but we’re working very closely with our supply chain team and the government to be able to provide these toys (of global standard) again.
We continue to work with merchandise that resonate with children. Even for the FIFA World Cup, we had a collectible available for kids and young adults, who like football.
Q] Nowadays, parents are increasingly wary of feeding processed food to their children. How is McDonald’s addressing these concerns and making it easier for parents to feed their children burgers guilt-free?
I am very conscious about what I eat, and thus want to lead from the front. The advantage for us is that, our entire supply chain is local. We can control everything that goes into the food that we serve, be it the ingredients or the practices our farmers and our processing partners deploy. That way, we ensure the food is made in the best possible way to serve at scale while keeping it affordable. We’ve made great strides in this area. Secondly, we’ve also continued to improve the nutritional content of our food products. For instance, we introduced the multi-millet bun in the aloo tikki. You get the perfect amount of fat, carbohydrates and protein when you eat an aloo tikki which is my go-to product. We have also introduced the protein slice.
Q] McDonald’s is one of those rare global companies which has two regional operators in India. Is it a challenge then to take ownership of the brand and create mass advertisements?
The beauty of our brand is that it’s so powerful, it’s beyond any individual or operator. We keep that sacrosanct and regardless of the structure—in terms of how we operate—brand McDonald’s is one. Both the licensees in the country, who now operate close to 800 odd restaurants, really respect that. In terms of menu innovation, we innovate quite well at a national level and make sure we put customers first. We make best efforts to introduce products which are available across the country and if not that, then in our region. It has to be a product that will suit our customers’ needs. By doing these few things, we’ve been able to ensure that brand McDonald’s grows. Research shows that the eating-out market is growing, and we’re growing along with it.
Q] But what about inconsistencies in the menu, Chicken McGrill is available in the northern part of the country, but not here in the west. Won’t a McDonald’s loyalist, who can’t access that particular burger even in a McDonald’s outlet, be disappointed?
That’s a relevant point, but even if you look at McDonald’s globally, our intent is to make sure that you get the right experience wherever you go. Menus are different across the world. If I even go to the Middle East which is only two hours away, the menu is entirely different. I won’t get my aloo tikki over there, but eventually it’s brand McDonald’s and I can pick something else which is close instead. Because of the experience we offer, we’ve been able to ensure that customers don’t find the absence of something to be a huge inconvenience. They will have a substitute which will suit their needs everywhere.
Q] Globally brand McDonald’s has a creative rivalry with Burger King. But you don’t take a swipe at each other here in India, why?
The QSR market here is evolving. We’ve all been trying to build the category and the industry. The US and the West are extremely mature and their forms of marketing and consumption are still far ahead of where we stand. Today, while there is competitive intensity in the category, we see ourselves as peers working towards the common goal of growing the QSR market. Our focus is on putting the customer first rather than putting each other down.
Q] What is your marketing mix today and how much of your annual revenue is spent on marketing?
We spend close to 5 per cent on marketing. It’s a large corpus that’s allocated to make sure that we stay relevant to our customers and are top of mind. If you don’t do this today, no matter how powerful your brand is, you will start slipping. There are enough correlations and causations that we’ve made to establish that. We’ve been able to find a good mix of digital and traditional media. However, we are pivoting to digital, connected TV, OTT etc. A majority of our budget goes towards consumer-facing spends which means being available on all these media platforms to spread our message. That efficiency has allowed us to stay top of mind even over the past year when volatility was high, making us confident about the momentum that we’re seeing now.
Q] Westlife Foodworld reported around 85 per cent drop in consolidated profit in the December quarter of FY 2025-26. What is responsible for this drop and who are your biggest competitors—global QSR chains or cloud kitchens that make eating out avoidable?
Competitive intensity has always been high. Our same store sales growth was softer last year. We are opening a large number of restaurants, so some of those accounting practices do impact profit. But our cash flows have still been quite solid. Our cash flows have been funding internal growth, which is quite substantial because we deploy close to 2 to 3 billion rupees in terms of capital. If you look at our financial strength, it still remains strong because we have marginal debt on our books. That reflects our profitability more accurately. Most importantly, our focus is on same store sales growth. In Q4, we finally started turning the corner in terms of what our momentum could look like. We are seeing that momentum continue into this financial year, and we’re quite confident of delivering a pretty solid performance on growth in the year to come. To me, now it’s about the future, having taken over the business roughly a year ago.
Q] Over two decades ago, a McSwirl cost `13 and now it is around `60. With such low margin value meals here for McDonald’s, profitability depends on a large volume of sales; how are you ensuring that?
You’re right. The new generation is eating out more often, and that’s our prime focus. As we continue to grow in volume, profitability will continue to improve. It’s not just about growing the top line.
