Finally, it’s official. Big Mac is set to roll in by the year-end and sink its teeth into a substantial chunk of Calcutta’s fast-food pie, with a robust roadmap of 15 outlets in five years.

“Calcutta is more than ready and raring to go, and so are we. We hope to change the rules of the game with our state of preparedness and ability to move swiftly and establish a large presence in a very short time span,” Vikram Bakshi, joint-venture partner and managing director, McDonald’s India (northern and eastern region), told Metro on Thursday.

The world’s favourite burger bastion, with 30,000 restaurants in over 119 countries, plans to come in with a portfolio approach, launching a “dream combo” of all its three formats — in-mall, high-street and Drive-Thru — in the city this winter, with back-to-back outlets. Properties have been shortlisted and negotiations with developers “are in the final stages”.

The group, which started the spadework for its city operations two years back, will pump more than Rs 100 crore into Calcutta, providing employment to at least 1,500 people. After mushrooming in Mumbai, Delhi and the rest why did it take Big Mac so long to freeze Calcutta plans? “McDonald’s is all about back-end. We were gauging the size of the Calcutta market to make the move viable,” explained Bakshi.

Besides the three regular large formats, the chain is also looking at Oil-Alliances, railway and airport services and even the Calcutta Metro Railway.

Every McDonald’s burger has nine different ingredients sourced from 35 suppliers across the country. While the regular McDonald’s menu includes a variety of burgers, the famous French Fries, McPuff, Happy Meals and Combo Meals, 70 per cent of the fare in India is based on customer feedback.

“Of course, we are open to experimentation and the fact that the McAloo Tikki burger is our largest-selling product in India bears testimony to that. In Calcutta, we will surely look at the possibility of introducing some regional flavour to our menu mix,” Bakshi promised.

Carrying the vernacular tilt forward, interiors of some of the city outlets could bear a strong tenor of colonial heritage. The first McDonald’s restaurant in India opened on October 13, 1996 at Basant Lok, New Delhi. Today, there are 96 outlets in the country, serving 350,000 every day.