Nearly 20 of the 84 McDonald’s outlets in North and East India that were shut down earlier this week are set to open in the next few days, Mint reported on Thursday.

Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Limited, the North and East India licencee of McDonald’s, said that it has found a new logistics partner after its original partner Radhakrishna Foodland discontinued its services on December 20.

Vikram Bakshi, the managing director of CPRL, said that the company was now working with a “strong group in logistics space” to deliver raw material to all 84 McDonald’s restaurants. CPRL operates 169 McDonald’s restaurants in the north and east.

“Between today and tomorrow, about 20 outlets will be back in business and before the end of the year, we will have all our stores serving customers again,” Bakshi said. However, he did not identify the new logistics partner. The company had said it had incurred a loss of Rs 1 crore because of the shutdowns and expected it to increase the longer the stores remained closed during the festive season.

Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Limited is a 50:50 joint venture between Bakshi and McDonald’s India unit.

Legal battle

The move comes in the backdrop of a legal tussle between Bakshi and McDonald’s. On August 21, McDonald’s India had cancelled its license agreement with Connaught Plaza Restaurant Limited. The fast-food company said it had been forced to end the partnership as CPRL had “materially breached terms of the respective franchise agreements relating to the affected restaurants, and failed to remedy the breaches”.

The joint venture between McDonald’s and CPRL first hit a roadblock when Bakshi was ousted in 2013 after McDonald’s voted against his re-election. Bakshi challenged his removal in the tribunal and was reinstated as managing director in July.