In a bliss for junk food cravers, McDonald's has re-opened 13 of its restaurants in Delhi starting 11 am on Sunday. The development was confirmed through a statement by McDonald's. These are the first McDonald's restaurants to be reopened after the ownership of Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Ltd (CRPL) switched hands on May 9.
The acquisition ended a dispute between McDonald's and its joint venture partner with whom the former had formed CPRL, which managed the 165 McDonald's outlets in north and east India.
According to the statement, customers can look forward to "more customized" hospitality, "refreshed" menu boards, merchandising and packaging at the reopened restaurants.
The restaurants opened on Sunday include those at the Terminal-3 of the Indira Gandhi International Aiport, Connaught Place and Nehru Place, it said.
"All other restaurants remain closed, but are planned to reopen over the coming days and weeks as we complete the work needed to ensure customers receive the best possible experience when they visit us," it said.
Meanwhile, McDonald's said it has been focussing on a number of areas, including restaurant and equipment maintenance, technology audits, menu and marketing updates and employee training, during the intervening period.
It, however, said: "We are also not able to offer delivery until we have more restaurants up and running to ensure we can service our usual delivery area."
McDonald's and Vikram Bakshi had signed a partnership agreement in 1995 to open outlets of the US food service retailer in northern and eastern India for a 25-year period and formed the joint venture CRPL, with both having 50 per cent stake.
In 2017, McDonald's ended the franchise agreement with CPRL over non-payment of royalties which resulted in a legal battle eventually culminating in an out-of-court settlement earlier this month.