Hardcastle to open 150 new McCafe stores.

Hardcastle Restaurants, a master franchise for western and southern Indian operations of McDonald's restaurants and a subsidiary of the BSE--isted Westlife Development, is expanding its footprint by opening 150 new McCafe stores over the next three-five years.

The Mumbai-based 18-year-old company is betting big on rapid growth of coffee and deserts consumption in the country, which it would like to tap aggressively to increase its bottom line.

Coffee will be the third line extension for McDonald's in India after it added breakfast and dessert items in the last two years.

The company opened its four new outlets at Amanora Mall, Pimpri, Hinjewadi and Magarpatta in Pune city recently.

American McDonald's is the world’s second-largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving customers daily in 119 countries.

'We are opening 75-150 McCafes over the next three-five years in key cities across west and south India, where we have a licence to operate,' Smita Jatia, managing director at Hardcastle Restaurants told Financial Chronicle.

Last year, the company opened 27 McCafes across four cities such as Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Nashik and Pune.

She said each company owned store would require capital investments of about Rs. 30 – 35 lakh per McCafe which would be operating within its 192 existing McDonald’s outlets in west and south India.

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