Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing & Management Review__________________________________________ ISSN 2319-2836 Vol.2 (1), January (2013) Online available at indianresearchjournals.com 112 A CASE STUDY ON MCDONALD’S SUPPLY-CHAIN IN INDIA KSHITIZ SHARMA Assistant Professor at Alliance School of Business, Bengaluru _____________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT McDonald‟s is the world leader in QSR. Their presence in 118 countries with 33,000 restaurants glorifies its position as world leader and as fast food giant. This huge network is not easy to manage where guest expectations are clean, hygienic, tasty and quick food every time. The credit of this successful availability goes to the unique supply chain management and control over this entire huge network. McDonald‟s is present in more than 40 cities of India with 250 eating outlets and adding more every now and then. This huge supply chain is entirely outsourced without any legal contact with them. Some unique features of this supply chain managements are lean management, multi-layered supply-chain, cold chain, Hub and Spoke system. For training their staff company takes all its measure through intensive programmes like Supplier Quality Management Systems (SQMS) and the Distributor Quality Maintenance Program (DQMP). The explained model will help to understand the flow of supply chain. KEYWORDS: multi-layered supply-chain, cold chain, Hub and Spoke, SQMS, DQMP _____________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION McDonald‟s is a limited menu restaurant is characterised by speed of operations. McDonald‟s is the world leading retailer with more than 33,000 restaurants in 118 countries serving more than 67 million customers each day. In India, the first outlets of the chain threw open their doors to the public in Delhi and Mumbai in 1996 within one month of each other. McDonald‟s is present in 40 Indian cities with 250 restaurants and serves 650,000 customers daily. THE FOOD RETAIL INDUSTRY Internationally, no doubt McDonald‟s is considered the largest food service retailer in the world. The first restaurant was established in 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois, USA. It emerged in Indian territory in 1996 eyeing the informal dining-out industry in India which is estimated at $74 billion a year. The fast food industry in India is estimated to be $12-$14 THE INTRICATE SUPPLY-CHAIN The strength of McDonald‟s India employees amounts 9,000 people including restaurant staff. But the surprise lies in its unique and intricate supply chain network which is managed by just five people across the whole country. Including the Quality Assurance people, this figure rises to just eight people who are all responsible for its efficient supply chain Indian territory.