Just happened to glance at the Food section of MS, and found so many rave reviews about McDonalds. But many of them turn out to be from people who belong to the US of A. And the Indian views, sounded like Advertisements of McDonalds, rather than any reviews. So I thought my opinion may provide some insight.Here’s what I’ve got to share.
Family Restaurant: Now if you call a junk food selling shop a restaurant, I beg to disagree. What have these guys got to offer but a slightly modified and better quality version of Vada Pav? With under 10 varieties of burgers, they call themselves a restaurant.
Burger..lemme start with their one and only item worth consuming. Well, its no doubt among the most tasty burger that I’ve ever had. But then, its not the fact anymore. They came out with some cheap stuff called ’’veg surprise’’. The surprise was...’’u’re still paying more for what you get, the swindlers are giving you a poor quality bun, and you don’t know it!!’’. The idea picked up so much that now its a standard. The same bun is used in all their burgers, almost. If you’re lucky enough, you just may get the good old burger. But the standard is, surprise
The mayonnaise sauce is always falling out of the burger, making it a mess. Extra cheese? Rs 6!! Gosh! French fries are cold..most of the time. If you ever take the pains to point it out, they replace it with so much of ease and show it to you that it was a big deal that you got. Huh...dude, you’re already charging me Rs 20 for something that doesn’t cost you more than Rs 2...and showing off as if he’s treating me like a KING.
The cold drinks they serve is more ice than water. If you look at it carefully, you’ll find about 20 - 25% of the glass filled with ice. It’s ok that u need to sell chilled drinks..but how do u justify the huge cost, and lesser volume. Effectively, it’s the same as the 200 ml Coke which costs you Rs 6. And for that, these ppl charge Rs 15 (+ local taxes extra).
That said, let me talk about the cost. Something they charged unreasonably. A value meal consisting of McAloo Tikki Burger, Medium French Fries and Coke, costs around 60 bucks.If have some insight of the food business, you can figure out that the cost of this value meal to McDonalds is no more than Rs 15. I understand, they have to maintain an ambience. But keeping a profit margin of 300% percent isn’t justified by any means. But then, I forgot, we’re dealing with swindlers..aren’t we?
Local Taxes Extra Thats another feather in the cap of McDonalds. I wonder how McDonalds comes up with such tricks. The menu, which is otherwise non-existent in the family restaurant, is placed at the counter, for which you have to angle your head and look like a stupid for sometime. Stupid since most of us are have two parallel thoughts running in our minds...the menu and the costs that you’ll incur. And after you’ve dictated your menu to the person on the counter, your bill turns out to be more than what you had calculated(Only, if you did the calculation correctly). And when you look up again, trying to figure out if the culprit is your maths or your eyes, you get to see the tiny little * telling you ’’local taxes extra’’. What a way to fool people to spend a little bit more.
Congratulations Swindlers!! I appreciate your ingenuity at fooling people.
OK..Menu! Ever seen a restaurant, a decent one, where there’s no menu card!? Well, there’s some indications of what they sell in the paper that comes in the tray, but hey, you get the tray only after you order something...so that means, these guys give you a menu only if you have already taken something. So that you may not feel lazy to walk up to the counter and check the menu again. But Buddy, don’t forget the local taxes this time!
Gosh, I gotta relieve myself...but what do I do? I’m in McDonalds..where there are atleast 25 customers during most hours of the day, and around 100 during peak hours..and and and...there’s just one toilet!! I remember waiting in line for 15 long minutes, to use the toilet for just 1. Now that’s something worth remembering for a life time.
An incident in Mcdonalds, Andheri..
I went to wash my hands and saw that the soap container was broken, and the liquid soap was spilled all over sink and the area around it. I gingerly washed my hands w/o any soap and came out. After 5 mins, a boy, around 15-16 yrs of age, walked up to me and asked in a rather harsh tone ’’Did you visit the washroom 5 mins ago?’’.
I said ’’Yes’’.
He asked ’’You broke the soap container?’’.
I shot back ’’How long since you visited the washroom before your discovery that the container was broken?’’
He kept quiet.
I told him..a harshly(ofcourse) ’’It was already broken. And next time, think before you blame anyone.’’
The swindler took his shape. Smiled at me, said ’’sorry’’ and went away as if nothing happened. Gone was the annoyed face looking at me as if I’d stolen something!
Now I was a bit upset, but it shows the attitude of these pachyderms. It doesn’t matter to them whatever happens to their customers and how they treat them.
And the latest in the acts of people-friendly McDonalds...if you visit Andheri McDonalds, you’ll find that there are three huge pots housing odd looking plants in them. Now this place is a landmark. If you gotta meet someone in Andheri station, the landmark is ’’Mcdonalds Andheri’’. Now staff of McDonalds Andheri doesnt appreciate this. So they’ve put up these plant pots which are a real pain in the neck. You keep bumbling into them..and it can really hurt u if you didn’t notice them in time and strike in them. The result, McDonalds thinks, is that people will be discouraged to stand there. What they don’t understand is, it’ll make people move more towards the door, in order to avoid the pots...I guess all the dumbheads work under a single roof! Don’t believe me? Go and ask them for yourself!
I’ve visited many McDonald’s in different part of India..Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and I must congratulate them for being so consistent...in their swindling standards. They all are the same. Same menu, same taste, no menu cards, extra local taxes, same swindling, one toilet...
God help us Indians from these MNCs, who make it a point to hire the most incompetent people of our country in their business in India. And then provide us with the cheapest and minimal service, and extract huge profits out of us. And it’s only because we are not a litigating country like USA, that not only these MNCs, but also the local brands are able to get away with it. I think the lawyers of India should wake up, pick up the cases of the common man’s grievances against these MNCs, start giving these swindlers a tough time and bring them back on track. Rest assured, most of them will wind up their business here and move out.