Give me a BigMac! (Reading)
The following text is not completed. You have to do it using the extract that appears below:
Give me a BigMac!
In a land where the cow is revered, McDonald's burger empire confronts its greatest challenge.
It is lunchtime at Ansal Plaza, Delhi's newest shopping centre. Inside the ground-floor branch of McDonald's, Ashish and Jasmeet are busy doling out seven-rupee (about 14 cents) ice-cream cones to a group of schoolboys. A▢. At first glance the branch resembles any McDonald's restaurant across the world. We could be in French Guyana, the most recent addition to the company's empire, or Kuwait, or Russia. Only when you spot a small sign on the wall do you realise that this is India. It reads: "No beef or beef products sold at this restaurant."
Four years after arriving in Delhi and Bombay, McDonald's is poised to launch a huge expansion programme in India, its last great frontier . B▢.
That McDonald's has come here at all seems curious . The subcontinent has revered the cow for thousands of years. The creatures are everywhere in India - on traffic islands, grazing in rubbish dumps, in temples - everywhere, that is, except on your plate. To give an idea of how highly the animal is revered, nobody thought it odd when 634 cows, en route to a slaughterhouse in Muslim Bangladesh, were rescued from a train by animal rights activists last year. The sight of naked Hindu saints holding pro-cow rallies is not unusual.
C▢. Hundreds of thousands of animals have died since McDonald's founder, Ray Kroc, first opened a modest burger parlour in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1955.
To woo customers, the company has devised a unique marketing strategy. India is the only country in the world where McDonald's does not offer beef. With 140m Indian Muslims, pork is off the menu, too. This leaves chicken and mutton - the ingredient of its flagship "Maharaja Mac". D▢. All foods are strictly segregated into vegetarian and non-vegetarian lines. Even the mayonnaise has no egg in it, so as not to offend vegan sensibilities.
Vikram Bakshi, McDonald's managing director in India, admits that beef was a "complete no-no" from the start: "We have to be sensitive to the culture here. No beef and no pork. We are absolutely politically correct . The point is to be commercially viable . Using beef would take us away from 80% of our customers."
E▢, Bakshi says. He points with pride to the new McDonald's on the road between Delhi and Agra, which allows customers to munch Maharaja Macs en route to the Taj Mahal. More branches in north India will follow, he adds.
1. There are plans to increase the existing 24 restaurants to 80.
2.There are other additions to the menu specifically designed to lure India's middle class, such as the McAloo tikki burger
3.The restaurant is half-empty or half-full, depending on your view of global capitalism
4. McDonald's was drawn to India because of its huge potential market of 1bn people
5. McDonald's, by contrast , is the world's largest user of beef
It is lunchtime at Ansal Plaza, Delhi's newest shopping centre. Inside the ground-floor branch of McDonald's, Ashish and Jasmeet are busy doling out seven-rupee (about 14 cents) ice-cream cones to a group of schoolboys. A▢. At first glance the branch resembles any McDonald's restaurant across the world. We could be in French Guyana, the most recent addition to the company's empire, or Kuwait, or Russia. Only when you spot a small sign on the wall do you realise that this is India. It reads: "No beef or beef products sold at this restaurant."
Four years after arriving in Delhi and Bombay, McDonald's is poised to launch a huge expansion programme in India, its last great frontier . B▢.
That McDonald's has come here at all seems curious . The subcontinent has revered the cow for thousands of years. The creatures are everywhere in India - on traffic islands, grazing in rubbish dumps, in temples - everywhere, that is, except on your plate. To give an idea of how highly the animal is revered, nobody thought it odd when 634 cows, en route to a slaughterhouse in Muslim Bangladesh, were rescued from a train by animal rights activists last year. The sight of naked Hindu saints holding pro-cow rallies is not unusual.
C▢. Hundreds of thousands of animals have died since McDonald's founder, Ray Kroc, first opened a modest burger parlour in Des Plaines, Illinois, in 1955.
To woo customers, the company has devised a unique marketing strategy. India is the only country in the world where McDonald's does not offer beef. With 140m Indian Muslims, pork is off the menu, too. This leaves chicken and mutton - the ingredient of its flagship "Maharaja Mac". D▢. All foods are strictly segregated into vegetarian and non-vegetarian lines. Even the mayonnaise has no egg in it, so as not to offend vegan sensibilities.
Vikram Bakshi, McDonald's managing director in India, admits that beef was a "complete no-no" from the start: "We have to be sensitive to the culture here. No beef and no pork. We are absolutely politically correct . The point is to be commercially viable . Using beef would take us away from 80% of our customers."
E▢, Bakshi says. He points with pride to the new McDonald's on the road between Delhi and Agra, which allows customers to munch Maharaja Macs en route to the Taj Mahal. More branches in north India will follow, he adds.
1. There are plans to increase the existing 24 restaurants to 80.
2.There are other additions to the menu specifically designed to lure India's middle class, such as the McAloo tikki burger
3.The restaurant is half-empty or half-full, depending on your view of global capitalism
4. McDonald's was drawn to India because of its huge potential market of 1bn people
5. McDonald's, by contrast , is the world's largest user of beef
Comments
Post a Comment