Burger King will open its first restaurants in India within the next 2 to 3 months. In a Saturday announcement, Rajeev Varman, the United States-based hamburger chain’s chief in India said the company will start with 12 stores.
The entry by the company into India was disclosed first more than a year ago after entering in an agreement with the real estate and private equity company Everstone Group that operates in India, to establish the brand through a master franchise for the long term and agreements for sub franchises that cover all of India.
Burger King Worldwide sees a unique market in India that has great potential and will adapt its menu accordingly to suit the local customers’ tastes in keeping with the majority Hindu culture in India.
Even though its restaurants have yet to open, the chain has offered its customers in India an option to order their Indian version of the Whopper online for only $2 each. Thus far, there have been over 1,200 orders to date.
The menu tweak for the India market for Burger King, which eliminates beef, comes even though the burger chain attempts to promote its other offerings besides beef as a main ingredient in stores outside India.
This is due to the rising beef costs and the company as well as other fast food businesses like McDonald’s and Wendy’s find better to promote products that are non-beef than make increases in prices in their traditional beef products.
Burger King India CEO Varman stated in an earlier email that the fast food chain would use its first one dozen stores across India as a way to plan for further expansion, noting that the chain’s Russia, Turkey and China units have sustained growth of more than 100 outlets annually.
