These are the first McDonald's restaurants to be reopened after the ownership of CRPL changed hands

Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Ltd (CRPL), now wholly-owned by food service retailer McDonald's, has re-opened 13 of its restaurants in Delhi starting 11 am today, a statement by McDonald's said.

These are the first McDonald's restaurants to be reopened after the ownership of CRPL changed hands on May 9. McDonald's acquired Connaught Plaza Restaurants as the US-based major completed a settlement reached with former joint venture partner Vikram Bakshi.

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.

The reopened restaurants would provide "more customized" hospitality, "refreshed" menu boards, merchandising and packaging, said the statement.

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.

According to the company, the work in the restaurants during the intervening period has been focused on a number of areas including restaurant and equipment maintenance, technology audits, menu and marketing updates and employee training.

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.