According to the Wall Street Journal, McDonald's plans to open another 40 restaurants across India, bringing the total to close to 200.

While much of India's retail sector is struggling, McDonald's has been largely unaffected by the slowdown and is planning on accelerating its expansion on the subcontinent, according to Amit Jatia, chairman of McDonald's in western and southern of India.

Last year, the fast-food giant opened about 25 restaurants. Mr. Jatia said the number of customers coming to McDonald's restaurants has continued to climb between 10% and 15% each month compared with a year earlier.

McDonald's adapts its restaurants in India to local tastes; in a nation that is predominantly Hindu and reveres the cow, beef isn't on the menu, for instance, replaced by chicken burgers and vegetable patties.

"People in India are used to McDonald's and now starting to rely on it" as it becomes more than just the occasional treat for India's increasingly affluent middle class, Jatia said.

Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images.

It all started in 1946 when William Rosenberg (founder of Dunkin Donuts and also the International Franchise Association) invested $5,000 to form Industrial Luncheon Services, a company that delivered meals and coffee break snacks to customers in the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts. The success of Industrial Luncheon Services led Rosenberg to open his first coffee and donut shop, the "Open Kettle". Then, in 1950, Rosenberg opened the first store known as Dunkin' Donuts in Quincy, Massachusetts.

The First Dunkin Donuts Location

The first Dunkin’ Donuts shop (shown left) was opened in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1950. The company began franchising five years later. By 1963, there were over 100 Dunkin Donuts shops open and by 1979 over 1000 loctaions open.

Photo: FranchiseTimes.com

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