Akshay Jatia is the Executive Director at Westlife Foodworld Ltd, formerly known as Westlife Development, the master franchisee of McDonald’s® restaurants in West & South India. Akshay spearheads the overall business strategy, brand extensions, and digital innovations for McDonald’s. A keen observer of the emerging needs of customers and evolving tech- nology landscape, Akshay has led various business transformation initiatives that have accelerated the growth of the company on many counts. The launch of its ‘Experience of The Future’ (EOTF) restaurants or the emphasis on omnichannel experience for cus- tomers - McDelivery, McCafé, and McBreakfast, which, along with dine-in, has contributed more than 50% to the total sales in FY22 are a few examples. He even spearheaded strategic tie-ups with third-party delivery aggregators to expand McDonald’s delivery presence, a move that underscored the organization’s level of risk preparedness and supply-chain planning. Akshay joined HRPL (Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt. Ltd.- subsidiary of Westlife Foodworld Ltd.) in 2014 and since then, has worked cross-functionally to understand the nuances of strategy, operations, marketing, IT and synergized them to grow the brand. He also spent a year working across McDonald’s India restaurants to get first-hand learning of what goes behind running great restaurants. Along with a team of talented and experienced professionals, Akshay aspires to transform McDonald’s into a prominent food- tech company and drive the business to the next level of success.