Here’s How Mccafe’s Vanilla Latte Creates Its Magic

When Westlife Development, whose subsidiary Hardcastle Restaurants owns the McDonald’s India (West & South) franchise, launched India’s first McCafé, its specialty coffee outlet, at SOBO Central, in Mumbai, in 2013, customers immediately warmed up to its many coffee-based concoctions.

One such delicious offering has been the Vanilla Latte. Do you want to know what makes it so delicious? The best way to find out is by checking out its recipe. Here’s the five-step method: Pour some vanilla syrup. Get your espresso. Heat and froth the milk. Add milk to your espresso. Add some latte art. And, it’s ready!

When McDonald’s India (West & South) launched its most successful global brand extension McCafé’ - an inhouse coffee brand – it was responding to the coffee culture wave already happening. McCafé soon became the best place to enjoy a range of premium specialty coffee, which included the likes of cappuccinos, lattes, iced mochas and frappes.

McDonald’s had already been serving these along with their meals off the counter. The new thing was serving these in a whole new ambience for coffee aficionados. In addition to extending its McCafé product portfolio, the restaurant created a defined space for McCafé in-restaurant, creating a brand within a brand at the point-of-sale. The concept of McCafé operating inside existing McDonald’s restaurants, introduced more Indians to the premium coffee experience.

What’s more, the baristas can be requested to add extra espresso or flavour shots like Caramel, French Vanilla, Roasted Hazelnut, Irish Cream or whipped cream. What set McCafé apart was its use of 100% Arabica coffee beans, specially brewed medium-roasted by well-trained baristas. Coffee connoisseurs may like to learn that the coffee beans and espresso at the heart of McCafé ‘s coffees are sourced from Chikmagalur, in Karnataka, India.

Other beverages offered by McCafé are hot chocolate, specialty teas, cookies, pastries and muffins.

From the company’s point of view, the launch of McCafé brand was a major step in its beverage growth strategy and its goal to elevate its coffee portfolio to become India’s favourite destination for great food and great beverages.

As Amit Jatia shared at the time, “We see huge potential within the Indian marketplace for customers who have a strong taste for coffee, the specialty segment, and we believe we’ve created a great place for people to enjoy quality espresso coffees.”

“We also see an opportunity to continue expanding our beverage platform and making efforts to gain a greater share of a sizeable Indian beverage market,” added Jatia.

Over the years, McCafé has proved him right by being an acceleration for the business and driving the  beverage and food business to unparalleled heights to make McDonald’s India (West & South) perch comfortably as a leader in the quick-service restaurant space in India.

Amit Jatia concludes, “Our goal is to fuel stronger customer connections and to be the place Indians think of first when they’re hungry or thirsty.”

Source: http://articles.org/do-you-know-what-goes-into-a-mccafes-vanilla-latte/

Even Small Victories Are Worth A Celebration - With A Junior Maharaja Mac

After boring TV ads, here comes an ad with a difference. The latest ad about McDonald’s Junior Maharaja Mac has been created by Leo Burnett, as all of the company’s ads in the past. Its even been shot on iPhones, giving it a real edge.

As Raj Deepak Das, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett, South Asia, “We’ve cast real people, captured real moments, and shot many of these on our iPhones.”

The ad by McDonald’s India (West & South) for the Junior Maharaja Mac shows glimpses from daily life. As daily life is not just about going through the grind but also about celebrating some victories, it says small and simple wins can be celebrated by ordering a Junior Maharaja Mac.

Sharing the thought that went into the ad, Das says, “We leaned strongly into pop culture to show how McDonald’s has always been part of our everyday moments – both big and small. The idea of a Maharaja Mac as the reward for life’s everyday victories, beautifully converts these everyday moments into feel-good moments.”

So, what is the Junior Maharaja Mac? For those who haven’t tasted it yet, it is a smaller version of its famous Maharaja Mac, which itself is an Indian version of the world-famous American burger the Big Mac. The Junior version gives customers a chance to taste the Maharaja Mac in the form of a single patty.

The Veg Maharaja Mac Junior is a vegetarian’s delight, the patty being a rich and crusty cheese-and-corn patty, served with vegetable-cocktail sauce. Premium ingredients like jalapeño, red onion, cheddar cheese and iceberg lettuce lend it a superbly fresh taste and aroma.

While that’s for veggie lovers, non-vegetarians too need not fret. There’s a Chicken version of the Junior Maharaja Mac as well, with a flame-grilled patty, made of whole meat sourced from the leg, breast and thigh of a chicken. The patties are placed inside buns sprinkled with sesame seeds. There’s also fresh salad, with a dressing of Habanero sauce.

The Veg Maharaja Mac Junior and the Chicken Maharaja Mac Junior – are priced at Rs 95 and Rs 99, respectively.

“We constantly evolve our menu to address customer needs. We wanted to tell them to make the most of the simple moments in their lives. The popularity of the Maharaja Mac inspired us to bring out another innovation as part of our value format,“ shares Kedar Teny, Director – Marketing and Digital, McDonald’s India (West & South).

However, while people are warming up to the Maharaja Mac, it had taken a while for the Indian franchise to come up with the idea of a non-beef substitute to the Big Mac. Big Mac, after all, is the best-known burger in the world, so could it have a substitute, even?

As Vikram Ogale, Director, National Supply Chain & Quality Assurance, McDonald’s India, puts it, “It was a complicated sandwich. It had never been done before.” A team from McDonald’s had prolobnged meetings with its main supplier - Vista Processed Foods – to create a perfect recipe that would work. The result of those brainstorming sessions was the Chicken Maharaja Mac!

Source:

http://www.articlesdunia.com/food-and-drinks/restaurants/small-celebrations-call-for-a-junior-maharaja-mac-says-this-ad

Jump To The Future With Mcdonald’s

If you have ever been to a McDonald’s outlet anywhere in India, you pretty much are aware of the ordering method in place. Walk in to the restaurant, find a counter, place your order, pay and then collect your food. However, should you walk into the McDonald’s at Nariman Point, Mumbai, you are in for a world of surprise. For one thing, when you walk in here, instead of a visible counter you are first made aware of four self-ordering kiosks spread across the outlet. Besides these, the appearance of the outlet is also quite different with a different light scheme, open plywood, metallic seating arrangements and walls with softer sketches of McDonald’s products.

This outlet is a part of McDonald’s ‘Experience of theFuture’ (EOTF) restaurants, a group of very selective restaurants across the globe. To use this outlet is simple. When you walk in to the restaurant, you can start placing your order using the kiosk, including meal plans, individualised items as well as side orders. Extras such as cheese slices, bun and sauces can also be placed here. Once the order is placed, you can pay using your phone or at the counter of the restaurant where your food can also be collected. You can also customize your orders as per your requirements or should you need to modify the order before payment. Reminds you of Futurama doesn’t it!

At the Nariman Point outlet of McDonald’s, you can get a few items that aren’t available in other regular stores. These include farm-fresh salads and whole wheat wraps. While you wait for the food to arrive, you can sit and soak in this technologically driven restaurant and relax. For the tech-gizmos, there are air chargers located across the restaurant to charge your phones and electronic devices like laptops so you can be at ease as you dine and enjoy your food. But wait, there’s more! Should you need to use the washroom, you’ll find sustainable smart hand wash systems, which have been designed to save close to 4 lakh litres of water every year. The entire restaurant uses LED lighting, which is both power saving and easy on the eye, as well as biodegradable and reusable cups and plates which would effectively minimize waste generation.

The Experience of the Future restaurants concept was first introduced in the UK about two years ago and has expanded to Australia, Canada, Europe and US. In India, there are two EOTF restaurants currently open, both of which are in Mumbai. This is part of the testing phase and soon the concept restaurant will expand to its other outlets across the country. The transition to other cities would take about 2-3 years and will incorporate opening new outlets as well as remodeling older outlets, according to Amit Jatia, vice-chairman, Westlife Development, which owns the McDonalds franchise in South and West India. He also added that there were plans to open up to 10 new outlets in Mumbai alone, in the next 18-20 months. 

Source:http://www.sooperarticles.com/food-drinks-articles/restaurant-reviews-articles/mcdonalds-adapting-technology-through-modern-outlets-1568018.html