0:08
They took their time but eventually most
0:11
global fast food chains have made it to
0:13
India. There are more on the wish list
0:15
but they will have to be prepared for a
0:18
certain alteration to their menu. One
0:20
product that brings all these brands to
0:23
their knees when they enter India is
0:25
paneer and the paneer lobby seems to be
0:29
infiltrating its way through the food
0:32
A vegetarian delight, this protein
0:35
supplying cheesy result of curdling hot
0:38
milk has created an identity for itself
0:41
over the years by giving some famous
0:43
Indian non-vegetarian delicacies a run
0:46
for their curry. That is understandable
0:50
though as the style of cooking
0:51
originated in the Indian subcontinent as
0:54
did paneer. But here is a list of food
0:56
that was never originally visioned with
0:59
it in between or on top. But they just
1:02
have to include it when they enter India
1:05
and why? Well, who better than Sema
1:08
Aurora Nambi of McDonald's India to
1:12
We do know that a large part of our
1:13
country is vegetarian.
1:27
paneer actually adds a premiumness to
1:29
the u the whole vegetarian um repertoire
1:33
that you know every menu really has. Um
1:37
on the other side from a culinary
1:38
standpoint I think it's a fantastic
1:40
protein to work with.
1:43
It's actually the the non-vegetarian
1:45
replacement in a lot of means and which
1:48
is why it became critical for our menu
1:50
to be able to have something to do with
1:52
paneer still be global in in flavor and
1:56
Right. But why did a chain like yours
1:58
that was never started with the
2:00
intention of serving paneer burgers do
2:03
so? The original burger was always meat.
2:08
Right. So I think uh there are a couple
2:10
points. So one, I mean if I talk about
2:12
it from a pure uh marketing standpoint,
2:16
I think it is uh it's very clearly the
2:18
premium most vegetarian item that you
2:21
can ever get. You know, because when
2:22
even when you see a lot of the
2:23
international guys come in, some of
2:25
their questions, a lot of them actually
2:27
come to India and only eat the paneer
2:29
burger when they come to visit us
2:31
because they don't get it anywhere else.
2:33
Well, let's put it another way. How
2:35
badly will business be affected if you
2:37
were to stop paneer items altogether?
2:40
From a business perspective, I think um
2:43
it completes the menu. It would be a
2:46
very very incomplete vegetarian menu if
2:48
you didn't have the paneer side of it
2:50
because paneer is really the premium
2:52
part of the vegetarian menu just as you
2:55
would probably have a uh you know whole
2:58
muscle uh chicken breast which would be
3:02
the part of the non-vegetarian menu and
3:05
as a result of it from a consumer
3:07
standpoint I think the expectation very
3:09
clearly is they do expect to see that
3:11
premiumness when I want to indulge one
3:14
of the reasons things most customers
3:16
give us for going out is celebration and
3:19
with family. At that point, if you do
3:21
not have that completeness with the
3:23
vegetarian menu, it'll be hard for
3:25
customers to come to you because finally
3:27
otherwise you you're pretty much left,
3:29
you know, between a potato and maybe a
3:31
few lentils that you can use. Since it
3:34
is highly unlikely that paneer will ever
3:37
be banned, it might be a smart idea to
3:40
start developing a taste for it if you
3:42
haven't already, as that may just be all
3:44
you're left with if the current state of
3:47
food policing continues.
