Burger King Worldwide Enters 100th Country With Opening Of First Restaurant In India
When, about an year ago I heard that BURGER KING® is coming to India soon. I was most excited, so were many of us Indians who had tasted their burgers at foreign locations. The excitement trebled, when we as TWCI (The WritersCollective-India) were invited to the opening (pre launch) of the first outlet of BURGER KING® in India on 8th November, 2014 , to be opened for public from 9th November onwards at Select City Walk Mall, Saket, New Delhi.
Burger
King Worldwide Inc. has brought its crown to India, joining an already crowded
field of other Western fast-food brands including McDonald's, KFC and Domino's
Pizza that are seeking to tap into the Asian economy's growth.
Team TWCI with Dr. Tamne (BK) and Rocky, Mayur and Chef Vicky Ratnani
BURGER KING® entered into a JV with the Everstone Group, an Indian-owned, Singapore-based private equity and real estate group. Burger King Worldwide Enters 100th Country With Opening Of First Restaurant In India.
US fast food chain Burger King Worldwide will open about 12 outlets in the country over the next 60-90 days, Rajeev Varman, chief executive of the hamburger chain's India unit said on Saturday. In India, the hamburger chain has changed its menu to sell mutton, chicken and veggie sandwiches coz after a long research of the markets in India. From North to South, tasting all types of street food and other fast food the 3 points which were highlighted were Crispy, Juicy and Spicy……that means we Indians mainly look for these 3 attributes in food per se to name it as good and tasty, added Varman.
Cherry on the cake was to see Rocky and Mayur of HOMP
(Highway on My Plate- NDTV) Mc’ing the show……….I was much happy to see
Chef Vicky Ratnani too, who has been appointed the Culinary Director of
the of subsidiary, F&B Ventures Asia Limited (subsidiary of
Everstone), which has brought Harry's Bar and now BURGER KING® to India. Vicky
has been all over the world and served as the Top Chef of the biggest ocean
liner of the world, Queen Victoria-Chef-de-Cuisine for Britannia Restaurant
& Kitchen- the largest restaurant at sea. Has done many successful TV shows
on cooking, obviously.
Chef
Vicky or as Rocky and Mayur call him Vicky Baba.... gave us all a demo, on how
to assemble the burger (tandoori chicken grill) right. On how to grill the bun
for exactly 17 seconds (automatic griller) and then spreading the chutney mayo
which should be precisely 14 gms on the top side bun (crown) which is to be
placed on the grilled juicy chicken piece which has been placed on the bottom
side bun (heel)……….
We had an exciting relay
cooking contest, in which 2 teams had to make 9 burgers each. The judges,
especially Vicky then had to judge us on the basis of presentation, packing,
placement and time etc.
I must say the whole
process of going to a fast food place and ordering food is too simple. But
behind the scenes, the work is too technical and difficult. Only did we realize
when we had to wash our hands for 2 minutes (in 40*c hot water) , clean our
nails, apply sanitizer, wear gloves and then as per the timings taught, make
the burger (pressure involved is high). But at the end of the day our Team won
(non-veg team) which was mentored by the most humble and witty Mayur Sharma of
HOMP.
The restaurant is
equipped with a dual production line (one each for vegetarian and
non-vegetarian products) and even the staff managing vegetarian and
non-vegetarian products will be different.
The BURGER KING® team spent
months developing a unique locally sourced menu that has been researched and
tested by more than 5,000 customers across 8 cities. Burger King is offering 13
Burgers in Indian market as such, and many more are in the pipeline. Some of
the innovative products include The Vegetarian WHOPPER® sandwich, The Mutton
WHOPPER® sandwich, The Chicken WHOPPER® sandwich, The Chicken Tandoor Grill,
and The King's Paneer Melt.
Chef
Vicky or as Rocky and Mayur call him Vicky Baba.... gave us all a demo, on how
to assemble the burger (tandoori chicken grill) right. On how to grill the bun
for exactly 17 seconds (automatic griller) and then spreading the chutney mayo
which should be precisely 14 gms on the top side bun (crown) which is to be
placed on the grilled juicy chicken piece which has been placed on the bottom
side bun (heel)……….
We had an exciting relay
cooking contest, in which 2 teams had to make 9 burgers each. The judges,
especially Vicky then had to judge us on the basis of presentation, packing,
placement and time etc.
I must say the whole
process of going to a fast food place and ordering food is too simple. But
behind the scenes, the work is too technical and difficult. Only did we realize
when we had to wash our hands for 2 minutes (in 40*c hot water) , clean our
nails, apply sanitizer, wear gloves and then as per the timings taught, make
the burger (pressure involved is high). But at the end of the day our Team won
(non-veg team) which was mentored by the most humble and witty Mayur Sharma of
HOMP.
The restaurant is
equipped with a dual production line (one each for vegetarian and
non-vegetarian products) and even the staff managing vegetarian and
non-vegetarian products will be different.
The BURGER KING® team spent
months developing a unique locally sourced menu that has been researched and
tested by more than 5,000 customers across 8 cities. Burger King is offering 13
Burgers in Indian market as such, and many more are in the pipeline. Some of
the innovative products include The Vegetarian WHOPPER® sandwich, The Mutton
WHOPPER® sandwich, The Chicken WHOPPER® sandwich, The Chicken Tandoor Grill,
and The King's Paneer Melt.
I tasted most of the burgers, like the grilled chicken, bean royale, chicken royale, Chicken WHOPPER® and the Mutton WHOPPER®.
All were good in some or the other way. But my favorite was the Mutton WHOPPER® …… a good juicy mutton patty which is flame grilled with full flavor of meat and a big amount salad in a big bun…………..Wholesome I must admit……
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| Team Of Burger King |
BURGER KING® has a decent range of burgers start from Rs.35 which is highly competitive but slightly higher than the nearest and biggest competitor Mc Donalds (which made the Rs.25 price point most sought after) But as CEO , Mr Varman said, ……..”Cheap and Value are two different things. I pride myself in setting up a menu that’s value-driven. We are starting at an entry price point (Rs.35) and we have a full ladder. Our entire menu is competitive and what we have learnt is that consumers are looking for more quality, wholesome meals. Price point is not much of our discussion”.
As I am writing this piece, I got to know from a friend about the heavy rush and big crowd at the BURGER KING® outlet on its opening day today. The crowds had pre booked 1200 burgers on Ebay.in 3 days back and they thronged the outlet in big swarms to get their piece of cake (Burger) lolzzzz……………The Queues were running onto 2 levels viz. starting from the outlet on 2nd floor and going down to ground floor. The amount of euphoria is huge. And I am sure will run for at least a month or so and then after 3-4 months Burger King will be a part of our lives like any other fast food place………………
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| Long Queue on 9th November( Launch Day) Pic by : Tanuj Malik |
Written By : Vickrham Vicky