It's the first Friday of the year. And like most others, let's talk fast food! Al Baik no please cheap no quality - But before that, a flashback to 2020. While the lockdown was a draining mental battle, the innocent tummy was no less a victim. Remember how suddenly midnight cravings meant eating leftover dinner? Or binge-watching shows with dal chawal became a regular? Until one day, when came a circular saying the authorities were opening up food delivery again. Soon, burgers—not considered delivery-friendly pre-pandemic—became a public-favourite, making it regularly to people's homes. Fast forward to now, today’s story is about one such burger joint. But better call it a burger giant. In 2022, McDonald's India franchisee Westlife Foodworld Ltd's shares shot up 40%, taking its market cap to $1.4 billion. Icing on the cake? It replaced rival Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd, which operates Domino's Pizza in India, as the go-to fast-food company for public-market investors. It even beat the two franchisees of Pizza Hut and KFC, which listed in 2021. Among other reasons, Westlife has the humble chicken to thank for it. Back in May 2020, it ventured where KFC was the only game in town: fried chicken. And the addition of McSpicy Fried Chicken to the McDonald's menu in the southern states turned out to be a masterstroke. The product already brings in close to one-tenth of McDonald's sales in the region. But chicken doesn't quite have the same appeal in the considerably more vegetarian western states, which make up 60% of Westlife's McDonald's stores. That's nothing to lose sleep over, though, when the market for fried chicken in the south alone approximates to Rs 5,000-crore.
