Chennai: A vegetable burger, that ordinarily is priced at Rs.42, was sold for a whopping Rs.400,000 at McDonald's first Chennai outlet Tuesday.

Kick-starting its first outlet at Ascendas IT Park, McDonald's auctioned its first burger and donated the proceeds to the Banyan, a city-based NGO.

The successful bidder was Shiva Kumaar P.R., managing director of Saravana Bhavan Holdings LLC.

"The opening of the restaurant in Chennai is in line with our expansion plans in southern India," Amit Jatia, managing director of Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt Ltd, told the media.

The Mumbai-based Hardcastle, which is operating in southern and western parts of India, is a 50:50 joint venture between McDonald's and the Jatia family.

The company has set up 56 McDonald's outlets in the two regions and has plans to increase the numbers.

"We will be opening around 30 restaurants in these two regions in two years time with each outlet involving around Rs.30 million outlay excluding lease rental," Jatia added.

In the south, the company is looking at Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad for expansion apart from other towns like Coimbatore.

Declining to give the average amount per bill Jatia added, "The average turnaround time per table is around 30 minutes. We serve around 4,000 to 6,000 customers per day."

According to him, part of McDonald's success in India is attributed to its ability to build an efficient supply chain and to respect for Indian customs and culture.

"We source fresh lettuce from Pune, Delhi, Nainital and Ooty, Cheese from Dynamix Dairies, Maharashtra, fresh buns from Bector Foods and others," he added.

Each outlet has just three days stock of food articles and there are no central commissaries.