Listen up, Lucknowites! There’s some bad news for you all. All of the McDonald’s outlets in the city will be shutting down for a while. To be precise, the outlets will be closed for 2 weeks, following which they will once again be opened. Till then, you’re gonna have to look for some other fast food joints and live in a world without McDonald’s- sounds catastrophic. The move to shut down the outlets comes after McDonald’s acquired Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt Ltd (CPRL) when the firm completed a settlement reached with former joint venture partner Vikram Bakshi.
Thursday’s development assumes significance as it ended a dispute with its joint venture partners with whom the firm had formed the CPRL, which managed the McDonald’s outlets in North and East India with 165 outlets. In 2017, the food service retailer ended the franchise agreement with CPRL over non-payment of royalties which resulted in a legal battle.
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Lately, reports had emerged that the two partners were trying to reach an out-of-court settlement. Accordingly, the firm has decided to temporarily close McDonald’s restaurants in North and East India to conduct a comprehensive assessment of operational protocols and employee training.
“The existing managers and crew will continue to be employed during this temporary closure and will be actively involved in activities to re-open the restaurants”, said officials.
Also Read: McDonald’s outlets in Delhi- NCR are shutting down for a fortnight
Till recently, one could find McDonald’s outlets in four places in Lucknow. Often times, Lucknowites would flock to either Wave mall, Phoenix mall, Saharaganj mall and Fun Republic mall. Now, all of these outlets will be closed for two weeks.
In Lucknow, there is a shortage of fast food joint such as burger king and Dunkin Donuts. Till then, Lucknowites will have to visit the more expensive but chill cafes and bistros around the city.
Since the McDonald’s outlets will be closed only for two weeks, the move is but a scratch and citizens of Lucknow will eagerly look towards it opening once again. There will be a few shifts when it comes to the functioning of the company as a whole, but your next experience there should be better than before.
*With inputs from IANS
