McDonald’s India targets break-even by 2003-04

Our Marketing Bureau in Mumbai

Fast-food giant, McDonald’s India plans to achieve a break-even by 2003-04, said joint venture partner and Hardcastle Restaurants managing director Amit Jatia.

The new projections comes in the wake of McDonald’s plans to expand its existing outlets in India from 30 to 80 outlets by
2003-04.

As part of it’s exapansion plans, the company is officially launching its thirty-first stand-alone one-storey “Drive-Thru” restaurant in Navi Mumbai, on December 10, 2001.

Located just before the start of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the 5,000 sq ft Drive-Thru restaurant with a capacity of 125 seats, is an extention to the two existing Drive Thru outlets, spread in Noida and Mathura, each. The company targets to expand the number of McDonald’s Drive-Thru restaurants in India to ten outlets by 2003.

According to Mr Jatia: “McDonald’s spends nearly Rs 3 to Rs 4 crore on setting up McDonald’s outlet, whereas for McDonald’s Drive-Thru, the company has invested nearly Rs 6 crore. Like our existing restaurants, we target to serve 8,000 customers per day per outlet in Drive-Thru too.”

“McDonald’s target to generate 50 per cent of the revenues from the Drive-Thru restaurants through the local residents, whereas the remaining 50 per cent would be through passers-by from neighbouring cities. To run the restaurant, McDonald’s Drive-Thru has even appointed 80 to 100 employees from the local area,” informs Mr Jatia.

Explaining the concept of a Drive Thru, Mr Jatia says: “A Drive-Thru outlet facilitates customers to drive their respective cars into
the main gate of the restaurant and stop at the actual path from where the Drive-Thru actually begins.

Customers in cars entering the Drive- Thrus are provided with the entry pass. When the car drives through 27 meters, the landmark for an actual Drive-Thru, the customer places an order in the first window by submitting the coupon and gate pass, the orders are executed through the second window in not more than 60 seconds.

The second window which is meant to execute orders is visible by the customer about to leave the first window counter.”

Concludes Mr Jatia: “Internationaly, McDonald’s Drive-Thru contribute about 40 to 45 per cent to the company’s overall sales turnover, whereas in India we expect the concept of Drive-Thru to generate 20 to 25 per cent in the next two years time- frame, since the concept is very new in Western India.”