On Monday, McDonald’s India announced the franchise agreement with Vikram Bakshi’s Connaught Plaza Restaurant has been terminated. Within just 15 days, the 169 restaurants running under Connaught Plaza will have to stop using the McDonald’s brand name.
In Northern and Eastern India, Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt., Ltd., (CPRL,) runs all the McDonald’s. At present, McDonald’s India is looking for a new partner.
McDonald’s India released a statement today that read, “Today we have issued the CPRL board a notice of termination of the franchise agreements for 169 McDonald’s restaurants operated by CPRL in North and East India. This includes all restaurants impacted by the recent failure to renew the Eating House Licenses.”
On 29th June, the company had temporarily suspended the operation of around 40 of its restaurants in Delhi due to the ‘Eating House Licences’ had expired.
The statement went on to say, “As a result, CPRL is required to cease using the McDonald’s system (including proprietary rights in McDonald’s names, trademarks, designs, branding, operational and marketing practice and policies and food recipes) and its associated intellectual property in relation to these restaurants within 15 days of the termination notice.”
McDonald’s India also explained that it was forced to terminate its arrangement with CPRL as they have breached the terms of the franchise agreement.
McDonald’s India also addressed all the employees working in the outlets in their statement that said, “We understand that this action brings uncertainty for many. As we proceed to exercise our legal and contractual rights consequent on termination, a priority will be to mitigate the impact on affected parties such as employees, suppliers and landlords and we are open to working with CPRL to achieve this.”
