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Indians today are enjoying high disposable incomes and a fast lifestyle completely infused with Western influences. There is a clear shift towards better quality and easily accessible lifestyle products, one of them being the “fast food restaurants”.

No doubts, then, with a growth rate of 25-30% this INR 11 billion industry is fast attracting global food chains from across the world to come and set their footholds in India. And the consumers are more than waiting to get engulfed in the vast arrays of offers completely suited to their lifestyle needs.

India has already opened its doors to fast food giants like McDonalds and KFC. McDonalds started with a “One Outlet Show” in Vasant Vihar (an affluent residential colony) in New Delhi, in October 1996. By early 2009 it had 155 outlets across India and was planning to add 40 more in the coming two years. Further, the company plans Rs. 1.5 billion investment on expansion plan up to 2010. KFC, which was the second largest global food chain to enter India starting from Bangalore in 1995, expanded its operations and menu all across the country. Other recent entrants in the Indian market are Pizza Hut, Dominos and Subway.

It is interesting to note, how all these global food giants easily took over the vegetarian dominated, “Chole Bhature” and “Sambhar- Vada” relishing Indians to love and gorge on the hamburgers, fries, pizzas, nachos and cheese. In a country with over five thousand ethnic communities and a highly diverse population, with equally diverse food habits, it was a tough call for these global majors to establish their outlets and engrave a mark in the consumer’s mind.  However, the food chains have banked upon the low pricing factor and have introduced the Indian taste to their recipes to attract more consumers.

Church’s Chicken, opened its first outlet in South India in the September of 2008 and plans to open 300 stores in the next 10 years. It not only offers their main menu fried chicken, cooked in South Indian style, but also keeps in mind the preferences of Indian consumers. Hence, they have brought a new variation in their menu called “Paneer Strips” and also have the “Herb Chilli Burger”. Their C.E.O., Harsha Agadi ensures that Church’s Chicken has two separate kitchens for the vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes.

Papa John, even though slow in its expansion, has been one of the first few to invest in the Indian market. It started with a single outlet in Noida in the June of 2006 and plans to open 500 outlets in the next decade. They have banked on the take- away, delivery and sit-down models and have also given offers like free pizza once a week for the entire year, for the first 50 customers to come into a newly opened store.

The Jawaad Business Group is planning to bring in another fast food chain- Chili’s targeting first the Western and the South Indian markets, starting with Bengaluru and planning to expand to 25 restaurants in the next 5 years.  Chili’s has again taken the cue from its existing brothers in India and has already introduced a special vegetarian menu and even went out of the way to introduce a menu only for the children!

California Pizza Kitchen Inc, a casual dining chain with 252 restaurants across the globe plans to enter India in 2010. One can expect a variance in the pizza menus with them through Thai Chicken Pizza and the likes… It is also being speculated that Burger King is supposed to hit the Indian markets very soon in collaboration with DLF. They are currently having a problem entering because of the presence of a dish which uses “beef” in its menu.  Burger King is worth $2.3 million and has 11,100 restaurants all across the world.

Indians can now definitely look forward to more global food chains making a beeline for India, a step which would be warmly welcomed by the consumers here. So now you just need to make a pick as to whether you would like to go for a Mac or C.K.E. burger, KFC’s or Church’s Fried Chicken or  bite on the cheesy and crispy Round Table Pizza or go for a spicy one offered by California Pizza Kitchen. Choices for Indian consumers are innumerable and completely suited to satisfy their diversified tastes and desires.