Vegetarian-only McDonald’s opening in India

Two new McDonald’s shops opening in India will include only vegetarian menu items to appeal to the diets of customers in the area.

The customers near the two new locations are vegetarian so a store without meat on the menu makes sense for McDonald’s.

“A vegetarian store makes absolute sense in the places which are famous as pilgrimage sites,” said Rajesh Kumar Maini, a spokesman for McDonald’s India.

Financial Times reports the two newest McDonald’s locations will be in Amritsar, home to the Golden Temple, the holiest site of India’s minority Sikh faith, and the small town of Katra, the base for Hindus visiting the mountain shrine of Vaishno Devi, the second busiest pilgrimage spot in India.

Cows are considered sacred in India so McDonald’s primarily sells chicken burgers, but also offers fish and other non-beef items at its 271 locations in India. The new stores will not serve any meat. Instead of the famous Big Mac, the newest stores will serve all of the vegetarian dishes offered at other stores in addition to some new offerings.

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