Amritsar had McDonald’s first vegetarian-only restaurant in 2012. The outlet was planned near the Golden Temple, one of India’s most important Sikh pilgrimage sites, where serving meat would have conflicted with local religious and cultural expectations.
McDonald’s entered India in 1996 and adapted its menu because many Indian customers avoid beef, pork, or meat altogether. Indian restaurants developed separate preparation areas for vegetarian and non-vegetarian food, while products such as the McVeggie burger became central to the local menu.
The Amritsar opening is sometimes confused with the company’s planned vegetarian outlet near Vaishno Devi in Katra, or with a later all-vegetarian restaurant at Kurukshetra. Some contemporary reporting also noted disagreement over which Indian outlet formally counted as the first. Nevertheless, Amritsar is the standard answer associated with McDonald’s first vegetarian-only restaurant in India.
The location also illustrates how global chains localize operations: rather than simply exporting the American hamburger model, McDonald’s created a distinct Indian strategy around vegetarian food, religious sensitivities, and pilgrimage traffic.