McDonald's is exploring a tie-up with Nestle in order to expand its beverage portfolio to include iced tea and cold coffee.
"We are test marketing Nestle's iced tea and cold coffee at our Gurgaon outlet and plan to launch the products on a national scale by April this year," McDonald's North India joint venture partner and managing director, Vikram Bakshi, said. He added that the company was test marketing products from other companies also.
With this, McDonald's will offer a complete range of hot and cold beverages to its customers.
Last year, the company had tied-up with Coca-Cola India for hot beverages including tea and coffee under the Georgia Gold brand.
McDonald's has further expanded Coca-Cola's product portfolio to include hot chocolate and a fruit-based drink.
While hot chocolate drink is being offered under Georgia Gold banner, the company has introduced the mango drink of Alphonso variety under the Maaza brand.
"Since the product is different from the normal Maaza mango drink, it will be co-branded along with the Maaza brand name when it is launched nationally," Bakshi said.
The strategy is a part of McDonald's India's initiative to celebrate 2003 as the 'year of taste'. Under the initiative, the company has also divided its entire food product portfolio in three main categories including burgers, wraps and hand-held products like the McPuffs.
Explaining the rationale behind the move, Bakshi said: "We are trying to cater to the taste and requirements of the whole family at all times by offering varied products for all age groups."
Bakshi added that the company would be expanding the hand-held range in April.
It has recently expanded its burger range to include crispy Chinese burger across all its outlets in Delhi and north India.
While Nestle's cold coffee would be sold under the Frappe brand name, the iced tea would be sold under the Nestea brand. The products would be launched at the current prices, company officials said.
While iced tea is priced at Rs 10, cold coffee is sold for Rs 12. Nestle has been trying to expand the distribution of its products through exclusive outlets but has been going slow on the expansion.
At present, McDonald's has 46 outlets across India and plans to increase its to 100 within the next three years. With this tie-up, Nestle can easily expand its volumes and distribution.
