The Chain that Never Sleeps

While relishing a Fruit Yogurt at 5 am on a Tuesday morning at Karlsruhe station, my mind nostalgically went back to the day on which I had heard this hallowed name for the first time. It had been less than a week since this giant had set foot on Indian soil and my Dad had taken us to have our maiden taste of globalization. It was ironical that we had to wait for almost 2 hours in the queue to grab our meal at an eatery which prided itself on instant service. Well, even the best are helpless when Indians decide to turn up in numbers.

Since then it has rapidly spread its tentacles through the length and breadth of the country, all throughout maintaining its ambition to grab the hottest property. Just as you find an outlet outside Paris Est, at Berlin Hbf, below the Golden Roof or on Mozart street; you encounter one in front of Victoria Terminus, inside Water Kingdom and across the road at Andheri station. It set a benchmark by selecting Linking road, Bandra for its first outlet in India which was soon emulated by Barista and KFC. “If a square is the most visited one in the city, we must have a shop there” – seems to be their motto.

One laudable attribute of this chain is its continual endeavour to blend with the local culture and culinary habits, as is evident from the ingression of the aloo tiki in it’s highly Indianised menu or the accretion of the café to it’s eateries across Europe or displaying the traditional wrought iron nameplate at it’s store on Getreidegasse in Salzburg.

On a personal level too, I have had a couple of experiences with this giant which I deem worth mentioning. Staying true to its word of a free drink if your meal is not delivered within a minute, once when the last grain of sand dropped from the hourglass with my order not being ready, I was immediately handed a cup of coke. The eatery also came to my rescue during our night-out at Berlin station. It was the last shop to close at 2am and the first to open just a couple of hours later.

While waiting in line on that night some 12-13 years ago, I had wondered if it was worth it. In hindsight, it certainly was and much more. It may accrue criticism for its monotony or for being the prime culprit behind an over-sized America, but for a hunger-stricken traveller in alien land renowned for unpalatable bland food, the sight of the thirteenth letter of the English alphabet will always bring solace