New York: Several US fast food restaurants close the indoor seating area or limit operating hours due to the distribution of Delta variants from Covid-19, according to franchising.
McDonald’s Corp temporarily closed in the room in almost all US locations in the early 2020, but it was reopened 70% last month.
Global Burger Chain said on July 28 that it was on track to open nearly 100% by Labor Day – except the revival of Covid-19.
But last week, McDonald’s instructed the franchise on the steps they had to take to close their dining room in areas where the Delta variant spread quickly, according to the internal company material viewed by Reuters.
“We have a feeling that is far deeper than what actions make a difference for the safety of our restaurant and crew team,” said US President McDonald’s Joe Erlinger said during Wednesday’s meeting, according to the material.
In Wednesday’s conference call, McDonald’s executives recommended a franchise considering to close the indoor seat in the district where the Covid-19 case exceeded 250 per 100,000 people rolling an average of three weeks.
The ingredients do not determine how many locations that close the seat in the room or can immediately do it.
One McDonald’s Franchisee that operates several locations to Reuters it must be a bar in a room in several restaurants.
But the expected closure is less than the number that closes in the spring of 2020, when the pandemic first hit the United States.
“We monitor the impact of the Delta variant carefully and recently held together with our franchise to underline existing safety protocols, reinforce our first approach and provide updates about increases in cases in this country,” McDonald’s Corp said in a statement about Friday .
The top US health officials said on Friday that the US Coronavirus case continued to increase in the middle of the Delta variant which spread rapidly.
The level of vaccination is also higher, they said.
Death and cases each rose 11% and 3% for the past seven days throughout the country, with hospitalization up 6% over the past week to a height of eight months, the Control Center and Prevention of US disease on Friday.
Drive-Thru, carry-out and shipping helps sales fast food ride this year even though the dining room is closed.
But Franchisee told Reuters that sales rose further when the seat in the room was reopened.
The PMTD restaurant must cut for hours in several restaurants of almost 40 KFC and Taco Bell in Alabama and Georgia because they are short staff when some employees are infected with Covid-19, according to Bill Byrd, President of the PMTD restaurant.
It has an impact on the location of the taco bell in particular, because it closes at 8 nights instead of midnight or slower means the restaurant loses late night customers, which can make 20% of business, Byrd said.