Owner Of Rochester Minnesota Burger Kings Refuses To Close

The owner of the company that runs Rochester's Burger King restaurants is refusing to shut down after the fast-food giant's corporate office ended his contract. Customers at five Burger Kings in Rochester and others in Kasson, Winona and Apple Valley receive hamburgers served in generic wrappers. Girish Dharod is the owner of Road Corporation, the company that owns and runs the five restaurants. He says he won't close them. But a Burger King corporate spokesman says he has no right to operate the restaurants after the end of last year. The dispute is over Dharod's plans to sell eight restaurants. He says Burger King is putting too many restrictions on the sale. Burger King cut off Dharod's supplies of merchandise, which is why he is using generic cups and wrappers. But Burger King signs and menus are still up and customers can still order Whoppers.