A couple of years ago Christian and Reto Frei won a contest organised by ETH Federal Technical University of Switzerland and McKinsey. The idea was simple: to create a chain of vegetarian fast food restaurants. The Frei brothers then rolled out five outlets — called Titbits — in Zurich, Bern, Basel, Winterthur and London. Not surprisingly, they serve Indian vegetarian food.

Reto said that they only offer dishes made of natural and organic products. A specific target group are children and teenagers. And now serve as many as 1,000 customers per day at each restaurant. Titbits’ story can therefore be the trigger for Haldiram’s to try and become the McDonald’s for the veggies of the world.

“Definitely, why not? Haldiram packaged namkeen and sweets are available across 50 countries. But our restaurant chain is only in Delhi NCR as of now (in Kolkata there is a chain owned by the other brother). Our brand equity is very high compared to McDonald’s in India. We are thinking of opening 30 outlets in Delhi NCR, then plan to go outside Delhi and slowly and steadily outside India. We have a huge range of choice on our menu card and so, it is just matter of time that we become a global restaurant chain brand,” said KK Goyal, manager sales (the person authorised by the management to speak to media) at Haldiram’s (North).

Haldiram’s already exports its products to countries such as Pakistan, Canada, Australia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malay-sia, the US and UK, and several others.

When veggies go to a joint that serves both non-vegetarian and vegetarian fast food, they have to be doubly sure that the vegetable burger doesn’t come in contact with meat products. At Haldiram’s, one does not face this problems.

Haldiram’s can cash in on this psyche of the veggies and roll out a chain of fast food outlets. “Their brand is already well established amongst the vegetarians in many parts of the world. If they can offer healthy, wholesome vegetarian food at reasonable prices, there is no reason why it won’t become a global brand,” said Roopen Roy, managing director, Deloitte & Touche Consulting India.

McDonald’s spokesperson Lizzie Roscoe only said, “Someone from our Asia/Pacific, West Asia and Africa team will follow up.” But there has been no official response.

“The potential of the brand is huge. The Indian diaspora is active across 32 countries. Haldiram’s offe-rs solutions, which people want in terms of taste. The eatery offers variety in retail outlets and in the form of packaged products,” said independent FMCG consultant, Harish Bijoor.

Adds Roy, “If Haldiram can successfully expand into international markets, the brand can become a symbol of globalisation and the Indian way of life.” Looks like a good road ahead. But it is critical that the road ahead be traversed by brand Haldiram as a single entity in which the brothers jointly put their best foot forward.

(With inputs from Jayashree Maji)