The Entry Strategy
An entry strategy for a new restaurant would be similar to McDonald’s entry into India. It can be argued that the McDonald’s Corporation has been a very successful in its entry into the Indian market. It is a great example. It would then behoove any food and food services corporation to perhaps learn or maybe emulate to a certain extent from the successful multi-national corporation’s entry strategy into the Indian marketplace. Therefore, it would be useful if we examine closely McDonald’s entry into India.
McDonald’s entered the Indian market in 1996 as a joint venture two local partners with Hardcastle Restaurants Private Limited and Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Limited. To enter a market where consuming the cow is consider a religious and spiritual symbol was clearly very difficult. McDonald’s objective was to produce products that are inspired by the India’s culture and at the same time deliver quality food products to the customers who are at the crossroads of global modernity and Indian traditions. To do well in a different culture McDonald’s Corporation needed to change their image from “all-American” beef patties meals to something more Indian. Not surprisingly, McDonald’s entry into India was met with great opposition. To this day, the Bharatiya Janata Party have strongly stated their opposition against McDonald’s Corporation. The biggest problem McDonald’s faced in India was the image it was carrying as an International food chain and not matching Indian standards and values. Therefore, products needed to be changed. Beef and pork items were not featured as it was in more Western markets. Vegetarian products were instead developed as well as special product formulations in order to successfully be accommodating to Indian cultures and palates. Such Indian market specific products included formulations such as the Chicken Maharaja Mac, the McSpicy Paneer, and the Veg Pizza McPuff, all of which are not available in other territories. Furthermore, all the vegetarian products, even the mayonnaise in vegetable burgers, were made 100% vegetarian, meaning they had no meat ingredients. At the same time, the McDonald’s Corporation brand never truly changed. The iconic “M” arches of McDonald’s is still used and so are the same techniques in food preparation. Therefore: a control mechanism was developed in addition to adaptation.
Here is an ad from McDonald's for their India market. Notice that it markets a product that is distinctively Indian.
McDonald’s entered the Indian market in 1996 as a joint venture two local partners with Hardcastle Restaurants Private Limited and Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Limited. To enter a market where consuming the cow is consider a religious and spiritual symbol was clearly very difficult. McDonald’s objective was to produce products that are inspired by the India’s culture and at the same time deliver quality food products to the customers who are at the crossroads of global modernity and Indian traditions. To do well in a different culture McDonald’s Corporation needed to change their image from “all-American” beef patties meals to something more Indian. Not surprisingly, McDonald’s entry into India was met with great opposition. To this day, the Bharatiya Janata Party have strongly stated their opposition against McDonald’s Corporation. The biggest problem McDonald’s faced in India was the image it was carrying as an International food chain and not matching Indian standards and values. Therefore, products needed to be changed. Beef and pork items were not featured as it was in more Western markets. Vegetarian products were instead developed as well as special product formulations in order to successfully be accommodating to Indian cultures and palates. Such Indian market specific products included formulations such as the Chicken Maharaja Mac, the McSpicy Paneer, and the Veg Pizza McPuff, all of which are not available in other territories. Furthermore, all the vegetarian products, even the mayonnaise in vegetable burgers, were made 100% vegetarian, meaning they had no meat ingredients. At the same time, the McDonald’s Corporation brand never truly changed. The iconic “M” arches of McDonald’s is still used and so are the same techniques in food preparation. Therefore: a control mechanism was developed in addition to adaptation.
Here is an ad from McDonald's for their India market. Notice that it markets a product that is distinctively Indian.
A healthy fast food and food services corporation must follow a similar strategy of cross-cultural market-based product adaptation and a strengthening of the corporation’s brand. In that way, the menu must change from a menu that appeals to American healthy eaters to India’s healthy eaters. Such a corporation must look into the local tastes of India and incorporate this into their menus. The food and food services corporation must research heavily beforehand what healthy traditional Indian foods are already existing, which of these are popular (meaning which of the healthy Indian foods will likely sell), which of these can be adapted without changing too much of the food and food services corporation’s brand. Additionally, the corporation must also look into the values of Indians and ideally the corporation would make a “make-over” advertisement campaign to get the targeted message across to communicate that the internationally known restaurant is not really an “international brand” but contrastingly, an ideal “Indian” brand with specifically Indian values. Incorporations of healthy traditionally made Indian foods into the menus will additionally help in the rebranding of the food and food services corporation’s name, brand, and image. A challenge, however, as I have stated before, is the product’s and corporation’s accessibility, in particular in rural areas. Therefore: ideally, a successful entry strategy should address rural areas as well as rural values, which can be really easily different from the values in urban areas.