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You will be forgiven for expressing surprise when you hear that McDonalds, that establishment synonymous with burgers, is opening up a vegetarian restaurant.
But why not? After all there are increasing numbers of vegetarians across the world and responding to demand is a way to survive in business. It is not quite as straight forward as that however, and you will not see a branch of veggie
Maccy D's appearing on your local high street any time soon.
The concept is one which is only being rolled out in
India and is mainly based on the religious makeup of the surrounding area where the restaurant is to be located. McDonalds' new branch will be a stone's throw away from the
Golden Temple in Amritsar, which is a holy city for people of
Sikh beliefs. As religious authorities forbid the consumption of meat in the vicinity of the shrine, McDonalds may well be adapting its offerings in order to cash in on a valuable market.
Rajesh Kumar Maini, a spokesman for McDonald's in northern India, said: "There is a big opportunity for vegetarian restaurants [in India] as many Indians are vegetarian."
So if it proves to be popular then there is a chance that the idea could be rolled out across the rest of the country and even the world.
Plans for another veggie McDonalds are already underway in Kashmir at the
Vaishno Devi cave shrine visited by thousands of Hindu worshippers every year. But the move to entirely vegetarian McDonalds' restaurants in India is not as farfetched as those of us in Europe may have originally thought. Most of the existing McDonalds establishments in India have a 50 per cent vegetarian menu as it is as the demographic of the country calls for it. One particular product, the McAloo Tikki burger, is a best seller and is a spicy potato patty without any meat in it at all.
So while an entirely meat-free McDonalds is a new concept, it is not that surprising and may not appear in the UK any time soon unless the powers that be at McDonalds think there is demand for it.
