McDonalds Goes ‘Veggie’ In India

McDonald’s plans to set the burger aside for items that are more McVegan friendly, as the chain prepares to unleash a couple of vegetarian restaurants in India sometime next year. These will be the first such fast-food restaurants of the chain’s kind in history.

Ronald McDonald is taking the veggies to popular Hindu and Sikh stomping grounds in northern India in an attempt to lure in religious Indians with fast food fare.

The new vegetarian menu is said to include things like the McAloo Tikki burger, which is basically a mashed-potato sandwich and the Pizza McPuff, a pastry filled with veggies and cheese.

The company plans to open two new locations, one in Amritar, the holy locale of the Golden Temple, and the other in Katra in Jammu and Kashmir.

McDonald’s currently has 271 locations in India.

Industry experts believe the fast food industry in India could grow from 47 billion rupees ($840 million) in 2010 to roughly 146 billion rupees by 2014.

[Business Week]