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The Rediff Business Special/ Archana Masih

McJatia tickles Bombay's tastebuds, builds an empire, all in two years

Non-veg fastfood global major McDonald's has in Amit Jatia, 32, an unlikely chief for its Bombay operations. Jatia remains a strict vegetarian, two-and-a-half years after launching his mission to 'McDonalise' India's most urbane, upwardly mobile cosmopolitan crowd's culinary preferences. He is an equally strict manager with an eye for detail, a tongue for good taste and an entrepreneurial spirit for top quality service.

"Arre isko erase kar dena, (hey, erase this)" he waves to an office-boy, pointing to a menu scribbled on the white board in his conference room. "This damn thing has been here for a while."

Easing into his chair, he asks for a coffee. Jatia seems relaxed -- and friendly -- in his plain trousers and greyish blue checks-n-stripes shirt.

"I've enjoyed every moment since McDonald's entry into India," he says, opening the conversation.

"I remember as a student in America, I only visited the local all non-veg McDonald's for a milk shake. It was much later that select outlets started serving some vegetarian stuff," he remembers. Jatia then was a business administration student at the University of South California, and finicky about not eating from a plate with non-veg food.

Jatia says he has attempted to bring his culinary sensitivity to the McDonald's restaurants in Bombay.

"The kitchen crew does not work at the veg and non-veg stations on the same day -- there is a clear segregation. The cooking areas are different, the cleaning dusters are separate -- even the wrapping takes place separately," informs Falguni Bhayani, hostess at a South Bombay outlet.

Jatia concedes it took him and his team some time to convince the Indian market that McDonald's in India would not serve beef, and would respect the culinary habits of its clientele. "We printed brochures explaining all this, took customers for kitchen tours -- and, of course, those who knew I was vegetarian believed we would maintain what we professed," he says. "Since we do not serve beef, it is no longer an issue here. And should we discuss anyone else's culture? What they do in the US -- whether they eat beef or not -- it's their culture."

Jatia -- who eats at McDonald's with his wife and two sons once a week -- says McDonald's is gradually introducing vegetarian menus globally: the UK and the Netherlands already have veg menus. "There are many veg promotions these days," he says. "Recently there was one in England. It was so well-received that they had to reintroduce it for Easter. The Netherlands was serving veg products much before outlets in India did."

Jatia says the company has made efforts to balance veg and non-veg items in its menu. His product development team, he says, has generated some innovative items like the popular McAloo Tikki burger and the Chicken Kabab burger.

"We have to keep our ears to the ground to know what the customer desires. If there is this indication, we put on our thinking caps and brief the product development team. They in turn develop the product and give it to us for trial. It goes through various trials -- at the head office, the crew, other staff. Depending on the feedback, we introduce the item in one outlet, and after gauging customer response, launch it in other outlets as well," explains Jatia.

So much for McDonalising. The company is also keen on Indianising. So: Maharajah Mac (non-vegetarian mutton burger), Manpasand meal (McAloo tikki burger / salad sandwich for veggies and McChicken kabab with small fries for non-veggies). Jatia says such a strategy marks McDonald's operations everywhere. "The key to our worldwide functioning is to McDonalise the local people," he says.

About how the association with the parent company works, Jatia reveals that his company, Hardcastle Restaurants Private Limited, holds a 50 per cent stake in the joint venture with McDonald's. In a similar arrangement, Vikram Bakshi's Connaught Plaza Restaurants runs nine outlets in New Delhi.

Jatia's outfit opened its seventh restaurant in Bombay on April 20, and plans to expand gradually. "The operating entities are the joint ventures. McDonald's India's job was to start the market. Their primary responsibility was to set up the food chain, while the joint ventures would focus on operations, training, acquiring real estate, etc."

McDonald's, Jatia says, is fairly satisfied with the joint ventures. "There could be a possibility of McDonald's seeking other joint ventures in southern or eastern India."

McDonald's in India is a 'desi' (Indian) company, he clarifies. Barring the fries imported from Indonesia, 98 per cent of ingredients and paper products are sourced from within India. (Click on the picture alongside for details.)

McDonald's India employs around 1,500 people in Delhi and Bombay. In Bombay alone, its team comprises a 100-member management and 800-strong crew.

"The most important part of our operations was developing a cold chain," says Jatia about the process of procurement, warehousing, transportation and retailing of food products under controlled temperatures. "There is practically no need of a knife in any restaurant," he continues. "All the chopping and food processing is done in the plants. Only the actual cooking happens in the restaurants."

Photographs: Jewella C Miranda

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