Now, Mcfuel

There are urbanites, in a great rush, looking to save time. They might wish to grab a quick bite. And then there are people in small towns, with plenty of leisure, looking to spend time. They might like to go for a long drive and a pleasurable meal at the end of it.

So Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) thought to kill these two birds with one stone and has tied up with US fast food chain McDonald’s to develop some gas stations into centres for such activity. Starting with the Delhi-Agra highway where BPCL is to offer its huge premises close to the Mathura refinery for the first of the McDonald’s outlets, the two plan to expand their network to the rest of India. The outlet, says McDonald’s Delhi chief Vikram Bakshi, "will come up by October". The fast food chain has put Rs 4 crore into the project.

The concept isn’t new. In the US, the chain has a similar tie-up with Chevron. But here the idea originated from the BPCL end where a team of senior managers, who a short while ago launched 70 convenience stores at petrol pumps, looked around to get more out of their enviable network. They lit upon McDonald’s as their partners because, as chief manager (retail) S. Ravi puts it, "Like BPCL, they are the best in the breed. They’re the largest retailing organisation...there is consistency on offer in the way things take place at McDonald’s. Comfort is offered to the customer all the time in that a steady quality and standard is maintained all through."

And these are the qualities BPCL thinks it possesses in ample measure, too. "These are typical of the ways BPCL operated with regard to fuel. So there is a major synergy between our philosophies," adds Ravi.

Could this be a bail-out for McDonald’s, which is believed-like other fast food chains-not to have been generating the kind of revenues it does in other countries? "I don’t know about others, but McDonald’s has been quite happy with the kind of business we have been doing in India," says Amit Jatia, ceo of McDonald’s, Mumbai.

Jatia says that between Mumbai and Delhi, the fast food chain has been drawing 3.3 million customers a month and since its launch 40 million people have savoured its McAloo burgers and french fries, among other meals, Indianised to taste.

In Mumbai, though, there are no immediate plans for gas station tie-ups and it is the peculiar realities of the real estate market that are the stumbling block, says Jatia. If they do come up, though, such outlets would be for the Mumbaikar in a hurry: "Drive Thro’s" where customers pick up their food and eat in the car.

A hurdle could be the Explosives Department, which has to licence these gas stations and BPCL is aware that there will be no permissions where there’s the slightest chance of a fire hazard. Which is why BPCL has decided to begin with Mathura, for it has a vast stretch of land around the station and it will be possible for to keep the kitchen at a safe distance. At city petrol pumps which might be developed at a later date, though, BPCL is waiting for McDonald’s to come up with a plan where food would be supplied from a centralised kitchen, yet maintain the standards of freshness and quality.

Meanwhile, the process of identifying high traffic areas is under way and the second such restaurant might be on the Mumbai-Pune highway. But despite the claimed synergies, Ravi says, "We have looked at several people and we have taken a view that does not preclude other partners. We are impressed with the speed of rollout at McDonald’s but each region of India has a different palate and we will go with that taste as we cross each bridge. "

Which means BPCL has other partners in mind and other plans as well. And it is very cagey about both these plans as well as the kind of capital investment or profit-sharing between itself and McDonald’s. There are indications though that it could keep 5 to 10 per cent of the food chain’s earnings and it will be McDonald’s that would develop the space. "All that I can tell you at this stage is that it’s a multi-layer agreement," says Ravi. The "mapping of demographics" is under way at BPCL. And this includes not just food but entertainment and shopping as well. "We’re looking at things that will give us maximum value. And at the same time, make life simpler for people." And hoping that this marriage between western concepts and Indian tastes would make for wedded bliss: something that has escaped American business in India so far.