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MANE MATTERS

When brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald couldn't find their feet in Hollywood, they ended setting up a restaurant. Little did they know that they would become the reason for many burger lovers to rejoice.

Come April and this fast food joint which is spread across 119 countries with 30,000 restaurants, including India, will be all ready to set shop in Chennai. Ascendas food court will house the first McDonalds in the city by the first week of April and its setup cost is estimated to be Rs. 2.5 to 3 crores. Amit Jatia, MD and Joint Venture partner(West and South) and Ranjith Paliath, Director-South, will be present for the launch. The star attraction for the kids will be Ronald, the cheerful mascot of McDonalds. "Ronald is not just the global mascot but also the Chief Happiness Officer and plays a central figure in the unique fun communications of our global energy balance awareness campaign. He bears a strong relevance in every market that McDonald's operates in as he is the face of the brand globally," says Arvind Singhal, Head Marketing (West and South).

But why did it take McDonalds 12 years to come to Chennai? Abhijeet Upadhye, director, National Supply Chain, Menu Management & New Business Channels, McDonald's India, (West & South Region) says, "It's just that whenever we enter a particular city we have to be sure that our supply chain is able to cater to us regularly like it does in the other cities. When we came to India 12 years back, we started out with an outlet in Delhi and then moved to Jaipur in the North and from Mumbai to Pune in the West. In the South we have seven branches in Bengaluru and four in Hyderabad. Now that we think our supply chain is robust enough to grow and supply, we are starting out in Chennai."

Like all its Indian branches this one too will cater all the combos and burgers except the Big Mac, which is a hit abroad but not served in India as McDonalds doesn't serve beef and pork in India. To keep with the local culture, all McDonald's kitchens across the globe maintain a separate section for the preparation of vegetarian and non-vegetarian items. This segregation is maintained right from the cutting of the vegetables and other procedures at the supply chain till it reaches the customers plate. "The mayonnaise, sauce, and oil that we use here are all vegetarian," says Abhijeet.

When you order for a McD's burger, it reaches you within a minute, but do you know what goes in before the burger reaches your plate?

BURGER LOVERS REJOICE Everyone’s favourite burger and the restaurant

The patties and puffs are got from their supply chain, Vista in Mumbai, cheese from Dynamix Dairy in Maharashtra, milk from Baramati in Gujarat, sauce from Mrs. Bector's, Ludhiana and iceberg lettuce from Pune, Delhi, Ooty and Nainital. All the ingredients first come to Vista, the supply chain; once it is processed there it is sent to the distribution centre from where it is sent by temperature controlled vehicles to the outlets.

So the next time you bite into that Mc burger of yours and say "I'm lovin' it!" you know what goes into its making.

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