McDonald's India earmarks Rs. 500 crore to ramp up footprint.

Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt Ltd. (HRPL), master franchisee for West and South India operations of McDonald's, has earmarked an investment of Rs. 500 crore to ramp up its restaurant footprint by 175 to 250 restaurants over the next five years across West and South India.

HRPL will add 35 stores every year across formats and brand extensions spanning standalone restaurants, drive-thru's, 24/7, McDelivery, dessert kiosks and hire 10,000 people to staff these formats over the next five years.

'The South market is a key focus area for us. We opened the first McDonald's restaurant on Brigade Road in Bangalore in 2006, and have 74 restaurants in the South, including Chennai, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Kochi and Mysore. We will open 60-70 per cent of the restaurants in existing cities and the balance 30-40 per cent will be in new markets to increase our reach. In the West, we are focusing primarily on Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh,' Arvind Singhal, Director – South, McDonald’s India (West & South), told BusinessLine. HRPL serves 165 million customers annually at its 189 McDonald’s restaurants in Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and parts of Madhya Pradesh and provides direct employment to 7,500 employees.


HBL