COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

The Rediff Business Special/Archana Masih

Jatia forayed into McDonald's foodbiz by chance

Part I

Jatia says niggling problems related to service orientation do exist. "We had to make our service agents understand that they should not switch off the truck refrigeration system to save fuel or electricity. We have now installed trapping devices that show us the entire temperature chart through the journey. We had to do all this to make it clear to them that we needed 100 per cent co-operation."

He dismisses the claim that compared to Bombay, the Delhi market offers stiffer competition in the fastfood segment. "If Bombay were a piece of cake, why haven't our other competitors reached here?" Bombay's real estate, he admits, remains the perennial cause of frustration to entrepreneurs. "We watch out for three things while looking for a site: location, location and location."

To start an outlet, the company has to invest more than Rs 30 million in real estate. But Jatia does not divulge his company's annual turnover. "All that I can say is we serve ten million customers every month."

To instill the McDonald's working spirit amongst his staff, he has made it mandatory for every employee to put in at least three days of hard work at the restaurant. Correction. Not just employees. Prerna Langa of Corporate Voice Shandwick, the public relations company which handles the McDonald's account, says: "Even I had to do restaurant training as part of my working relationship with them."

Jatia believes in setting a personal example. Before initiating work on the food chain, he went through his restaurant training in Singapore. "Even now, I try working in the kitchen once in a while. It helps you to stay in touch."

Jatia's family was into the business of chemicals. It was through a friend that he came to know of McDonald's plans to enter the Indian market. "In less than a year of my first meeting, we had sewn up plans for the joint venture."

The company prefers to recruit staff for the restaurants and groom them for positions at the head office. It is mandatory for the restaurant crew to be above 18, most of whom are collegians.

Hostess Bhayani herself is a part-timer. She says the company is very considerate. After working one vacation, the under-graduate never wanted to leave: she now works for a few hours every day. She gets a month's leave before her annual exam, and finds time to pursue her hobby as an orchestra singer.

McDonald's recruits graduates for the position of management trainee. The start-up role would be managerial at the restaurants. "Career opportunities abound. There are many instances when crew members have graduated to the position of trainee manager and second assistant," says Bhayani.

Jatia believes McDonald's Indian franchisees have outperformed their counterparts elsewhere. "We'll continue to adapt our operations to customer needs and keep on improving ourselves."

Being an MD with an eye for detail, he offers the relevant facts and figures: McDonald's operates more than 18,000 restaurants in 90 countries. And at all the 18,000 restaurants in 90 countries, he stresses for effect, McDonald's products look and taste the same. "If you order a veg burger in the UK, it will be wrapped and given in the same way as in Delhi or Timbuctoo. They'll tickle your tastebuds all right, but you can't tell one from another." Mc-style, eh?

Photographs: Jewella C Miranda

Business News