Journal of African Development

Quick service restaurants (QSRs) are often described as standardized and corporately controlled, yet entrepreneurship drives their creation, adaptation, and growth. This study examines how entrepreneurial orientation (EO), innovation, and digital adoption relate to firm performance among QSR operators in Delhi, India, and tests whether ownership structure and environmental dynamism condition these relationships. A structured questionnaire measuring EO, innovation, digital adoption, environmental dynamism, and perceived performance on five-point Likert scales was designed for owners, franchisees, and outlet managers across six zones of Delhi (N = 315). Analyses included reliability and validity assessment, exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlation, multiple regression, bootstrapped mediation, moderation analysis, independent-samples t-tests, one-way ANOVA with Tukey post hoc tests, and chi-square tests. In the analysed dataset, EO strongly predicted innovation (β = .61, p < .001) and performance (β = .29, p < .001); innovation partially mediated the EO–performance link (indirect effect = .12, 95% CI [.05, .19]); digital adoption added a smaller but significant effect (β = .11, p = .039); and environmental dynamism strengthened the EO–performance relationship (interaction b = .28, p < .001). Independent owners reported higher EO than franchisees and company-managed managers, F(2, 312) = 8.80, p < .001, η² = .053. The paper offers theoretical, managerial, and policy implications for QSR entrepreneurship in Delhi's urban market