McDonald’s India Flags Food Quality of Over 100 of Its Restaurants

The fast-food chain said there are “serious compliance risks” concerning the safety and quality of the food.

The fast food chain’s estranged partner Vikram Bakshi said that 18 out of the 43 outlets of the burger chain in Delhi that have been closed since June reopened on 19 September.

(Photo: Reuters)

McDonald’s India on Thursday expressed concern over the quality and safety of food served across 169 of its restaurants run by its north and east India licencee Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt Ltd (CPRL).

CPRL is a joint venture between McDonald and its estranged partner Vikram Bakshi. McDonald’s India, in an emailed statement to Quartz, said there are "serious compliance risks" at 169 restaurants.

Since the termination of the franchise agreement, McDonald’s India has not been able to verify if the unauthorised McDonald’s restaurants operated by CPRL in north and east India are complying with applicable McDonald’s standards, including those pertaining to supplies, operations and safety standards, and quality required for McDonald’s products.

McDonald’s India told Quartz

McDonald's Follows Different Food Standards for India: Bakshi

Vikram Bakshi responded to the allegations by the American fast food major, saying it follows "different standards" for India and continuously ignored the food quality concerns raised by him for the past four years.

It appears that McDonald’s have global standards for food safety and supplies, and they have a very different set of standards for countries like our, which is a clear double standard.   

Vikram Bakshi

Bakshi said issues that concern public health of this country have been blatantly ignored by the American company with no responses, visits or actions on food safety issues that were red flagged for immediate attention.

It is indeed ironic that the conscience of McDonald’s has suddenly awakened to quality and food safety in India, when for the past four years, CPRL has been bringing to their attention, including their CEO, Steve Easterbrook, issues over the same, without extracting a single response or visit from them.   

The battle between McDonald's India and Bakshi-led CPRL intensified after the latter's logistics partner, Radhakrishna Foodland, abruptly stopped supplies. This led to the closure of about 84 outlets, mostly in east India and some in north in August.

Sixteen of the 84 outlets resumed operations a few weeks after that, when Bakshi roped in a new logistics vendor called ColdEX.

Meanwhile, the fast food giant has alleged that the new vendor is not approved by it.

(With inputs from PTI)