At McDonald’s outlets in South India, a 30-cent burger topping is selling out — a five-gram vegetarian protein slice, the brand’s first such offering globally, developed with India’s Central Food Technological Research Institute.

In July, McDonald’s sold 32,000 slices in 24 hours, with most of its 400-plus stores running out and being restocked a month later, according to Westlife Foodworld, its franchisee for the south and west.

McDonald’s has joined India’s biggest dairy Amul, a slew of start-ups and a company backed by Bollywood superstar Ranveer Singh to unleash a marketing blitz with celebrity chefs and cricketers promoting protein as a daily nutrition need for young and old, not just a gym fad.

The kiosks now highlight protein rather than calories, and even the $3 Chicken Maharaja can be topped with the slice. India’s ‘proteinisation’ is widening beyond gym tubs to cottage cheese, ice creams, water, chips and 60-cent blueberry milkshakes, with flatbreads next.

India’s cereal-heavy diet underpins the rush. Approximately 30 per cent of the 1.4 billion population is vegetarian, and the government estimates 73 per cent are protein-deficient. Per-capita meat supply is just 6.6 kg a year, versus 123 kg in the US and 70.5 kg in China, according to UN data from 2022.

Bollywood and cricket are amplifying the craze: Ranveer Singh-backed SuperYou says it has sold over 10 million protein wafers since November, while Amul, which generates three million litres of whey daily, is pushing high-protein buttermilk, ice cream and flatbreads through cricketers.

Papa John’s back

Papa John’s will re-enter India by October, opening first in Bengaluru and targeting 650 stores by 2035 with joint master franchisees Pulsar Capital and UAE-based PJP Investments.