Ikea bets big on India but keeps meatballs off the menu

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‍Furniture giant Ikea is set to open its first store and restaurant in India after years of trying, but arguably its most famous item is off the menu – Swedish meatballs.

Ikea, the world's biggest furniture retailer, will next month cut the ribbon on a massive 37,000-square-meter outlet in the southern city of Hyderabad, complete with a 1,000-seat cafeteria.

The restaurant will be Ikea's largest and will cater to local tastes, with religious sensitivities in India dictating that beef and pork, staples of Swedish meatballs, will not be served.

Traditional Swedish meatballs. /VCG Photo

"There will be chicken meatballs and vegetarian balls," Patrik Antoni, Ikea's deputy country manager for India, told AFP during an interview in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai.

"Fifty percent of the food will be Swedish inspired, salmon and shrimp dishes and so on. We'll also have quite a few Indian dishes like dal makhani, biryani, samosas," he added.

Ikea plans to invest 1.5 billion US dollars in Asia's third-largest economy as it seeks to lure price-sensitive Indians away from satisfying their furniture needs at local, family-run shops.

Alongside its popular Billy bookcases and Poang chairs, Ikea will also offer spice boxes and kitchen appliances to make traditional Indian staples such as idlis (rice cakes).

"We have done over a thousand home visits and interviewed people to try to understand their needs, dreams, aspirations and how they feel about their home," explained Antoni.

"We are very bullish and excited about the Indian market. Normally, we would test a market by opening one store, but in India, we are going all out and expanding," said Antoni.

The Swedish company hopes its walk-in stores and famed restaurant will be a unique selling point as it goes up against popular Indian online furniture retailers Pepperfry and Urban Ladder.

Source(s): AFP