SRI LANKA — McDonald’s, an American fast-food restaurant, has decided to close all 12 outlets across Sri Lanka after terminating its partnership with a local franchise, Abans. 

In a statement released by one of the company’s attorneys, Sanath Wijewardane, the company cited standard issues as the main reason for closure, claiming that it will only come back under a new franchise in the future.  

Even though the attorney declined to comment further on the issue, Sri Lankan local media claimed that McDonald’s had taken Abans to court due to hygiene issues.

According to Sri Lanks’s Daily Mirror, the order for Abans to stop using McDonald’s name was given by Sri Lanka’s Colombo Commercial High Court.  

The now closed outlets were distributed all over Sri Lanka, including Kotahena, Nugegoda, Kiribathgoda, Battaramulla, Kollupitiya, Rajagiriya, Welisara, Mount Lavinia, Colombo City Centre, Macleod Road restaurant and Shangri-La restaurant. 

This comes as a shock to consumers, as the partnership between Abans and McDonald’s dates back as early as 1998, when the franchise entered the Sri Lankan market.  

In addition to McDonald’s outlets, Abans has a broad retail network comprising more than 400 showrooms and branded stand-alone outlets spread throughout the island. 

This expansive presence was the main reason the two companies had decided to start working together in the first place.  

McDonald’s battles system outage issues 

The franchise agreement termination comes on the heels of a system outage that left restaurant operators around the world unable to open stores, take credit card payments and receive digital orders. 

According to Fortune, the system outage appears to have started in the Asia-Pacific region and spread to other markets globally, leaving some restaurants unable to take orders or serve food. 

 The issue, according to the News Outlet, caused by a problem with the fast-food giant’s computer system, rippled from Japan to Australia, New Zealand and several European countries on Friday. 
“We are aware of a technology outage, which impacted our restaurants,” McDonald’s said in an emailed statement.  

“The issue is now being resolved. We thank customers for their patience and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Notably, the issue is not related to a cybersecurity event.”   

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