 They took their time, but eventually most global fast-food chains have made it to India. There are more on the wish list, but they will have to be prepared for a certain alteration to their menu. One product that brings all these brands to their knees when they enter India is Paneel. And the Paneel lobby seems to be infiltrating its way through the food chain. A vegetarian delight, this protein-supplying cheesy result of curdling hot milk has created an identity for itself over the years by giving some famous Indian non-vegetarian delicacies a run for their curry. That is understandable though as the style of cooking originated in the Indian subcontinent as did Paneel. But here is a list of food that was never originally visioned with it in between or on top, but they just have to include it when they enter India. And why? Well, who better than Seema Arora Nambiar of McDonald's India to answer that? We do know that a large part of our country is vegetarian. Paneel actually adds a premiumness to the whole vegetarian repertoire that every menu really has. On the other side, from a culinary standpoint, I think it's a fantastic protein to work with. It's actually the non-vegetarian replacement in a lot of means and which is why it became critical for our menu to be able to have something to do with paneel, still be global in flavor and taste. Right, but why did a chain like yours that was never started with the intention of serving paneer burgers do so? The original burger was always meat. Right, so I think there are a couple points. So one, I mean, if I talk about it from a pure marketing standpoint, I think it is, it's very clearly the premium most vegetarian item that you can ever get. You know, because even when you see a lot of the international guys come in, some of their questions, a lot of them actually come to India and only eat the paneer burger when they come to visit us because they don't get it anywhere else. Well, let's put it another way. How badly will business be affected if you were to stop paneel items all together? From a business perspective, I think it completes the menu. It would be a very, very incomplete vegetarian menu if you didn't have the paneer side of it because paneer is really the premium part of the vegetarian menu just as you would probably have a whole muscle chicken breast which would be the part of the non-vegetarian menu. And as a result of it, from a consumer standpoint, I think the expectation very clearly is they do expect to see that premiumness when I want to indulge. One of the reasons most customers give us for going out is celebration and with family. At that point, if you do not have that completeness with the vegetarian menu, it will be hard for customers to come to you because finally, otherwise, you're pretty much left, you know, between a potato and maybe a few lentils that you can use. Since it is highly unlikely that paneer will ever be banned, it might be a smart idea to start developing a taste for it if you haven't already as that may just be all you're left with if the current state of food policing continues.