McDonald’s India expands McCafe

McDonald’s India has opened three McCafés in Bengaluru.

Westlife Development, owner of the Master Franchisee of McDonald’s in India, Hardcastle Restaurants, said the McCafes were the first in South India.

Smita Jatia, MD of Hardcastle Restaurants, said Bengaluru has great significance as a coffee hub and there is tremendous potential for growth there.

“With the launch of McCafe, we will strengthen our beverage strategy and build our restaurants as a one stop destination for all customers to enjoy across all ‘day parts’.

*Smita Jatia, Managing director, Hardcastle restaurants Pvt Ltd at the Launch of McCafe in Bengaluru

The store-in-store format enables a quick roll-out of a McCafé with an investment of Rs 30-35 lakhs per outlet across key trading areas in metro cities of West & South India to make it easily accessible to our consumers.”

Jatia said within the last 18 months McDonald’s India has expanded the McCafé network across 41 restaurants in six cities – Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Nashik, Aurangabad, Pune and now Bengaluru.

“Today, we are well on track as per the stated goal to launch 75-150 McCafé over the next three to five years, a clear testament to the fact that our coffees, frappes and muffins have been very well accepted by customers.”

The expansion of the McCafé brand and its product offering is part of the company’s goal to elevate its coffee portfolio and to become India’s favourite destination for good food and quality beverages.

“We believe that we will be able to delight customers in Bengaluru too with our freshly brewed aromatic coffees,” said Jatia.

McCafé uses 100 per cent Arabica coffee beans brewed by professionally trained baristas and sourced from sustainable farms in Chikmangalur, India.

McDonald’s India first opened a McCafe in October 2013. Hardcastle Restaurants, which operates McDonald’s in west and south India, recognised an unmet need, for existing and new customers, in the rapidly growing Indian specialty coffee segment.

McCafé was created and launched in Melbourne, Australia in 1993, and has since spread worldwide, with the first in the US opening in Chicago, Illinois, in May 2001. Today, McCafés can be found in Costa Rica, Japan, Paraguay, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine, Canada, Malaysia, Macau, Hong Kong, Thailand and the UK, amongst other countries.