KFC restaurants in Nepal, operated by Indian company Devyani International, faces closure after Maoist trade union activists attacked and threatened to kill senior managers, a company official said recently.
"Some Maoist trade union activists have beaten up and threatened the management staff of the company and even interfered with their works like hiring and transferring of staff," a senior management of the company said in a report by Zee Business."The KFC restaurants may be permanently closed down if the situation does not improve," the management staff said. The KFC outlets were opened in Kathmandu’s Durbarmarg and Thapathali areas in 2009 with Indian investments. Devyani International which runs the KFC and Pizza Hut outlets in the country has a significant stake in the QSR industry in India. "We are open for dialogue but the trade union has not yet come up for negotiations," the senior staff said. The fate of around 200 local employees working at the KFC and Pizza Hut is hanging in the balance after international chain of restaurants shut down indefinitely on Tuesday following a row between the Maoist affiliated trade union and the management. In the past too, many Indian investors had to face similar labour unrests in Nepal. Simiarly, type of labour problem was faced by Uniliver, another multinational company having Indian investment. Colgate Palmolive has permanently shut down its operation a couple of years ago. Devyani International is an associate of RJ Corp. The company is the largest franchisee for Pizza Hut and KFC in India. The company also has pan India franchisee rights for Costa Coffee and Swensen’s ice cream.
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