And where a McDonald's server might wish a customer to have a nice day, Shiv vada pav vendors are expected to exclaim "Jai Maharashtra!", a Shiv Sena slogan meaning "Hail Maharashtra!", the Marathi-dominated state of which Mumbai is the capital.
"This is not a political movement, this is a social movement," said Raut, the Shiv Sena lawmaker, who hopes the scheme will provide much-needed jobs.
He did not go as far as the scheme's organiser in saying non-Marathis would not be hired. "In Mumbai, maximum sellers are Marathi, but if not Marathi, it's not a problem," Raut said.
"But this is the food of Marathi culture," he added.
Until recently, Shiv Sena had drifted from making pro-Marathi noises as it tried to appeal to voters in other states. It instead focused on espousing Hindutva, the nationalist idea that India is an essentially Hindu society with conservative values.
Its workers shifted from attacking city migrants to disrupting Valentine's Day balls, screenings of an art house movie about lesbians and other perceived threats to Indian culture. It also reached out to various non-Marathi communities.
But, in 2006, Raj Thackeray, the nephew of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, deserted the party to form the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) or Maharashtra Reconstruction Army. Once again, news channels ran pictures of non-Marathis being beaten in Mumbai's streets, this time by MNS workers.
Some see Shiv Sena returning to its roots as it tries to hang on to its Marathi votebank.
"Ever since Bal Thackeray's delinquent nephew set himself up as his uncle's Mini-Me, Marathi chauvinism has returned to Maharashtra politics," Vir Sanghvi, a columnist, wrote in the Hindustan Times on Sunday.
The party plans to launch the Shiv vada pav brand in June, and aims to soon have 5,000 franchisees across the city, heating up hygienic, uniform vada pavs prepared in a central kitchen.
In India, at least, the notion that politics and fast food can mix is already catching on. At the weekend, the Republican Party of India, a small party based mainly in Maharashtra, said it too would launch its own line of vada pavs.
