McDonald's holds 'operational tests' as fast food giants look at partial reopening

McDonald’s has confirmed it will carry out “operational tests” this week as it explores a “potential and limited reopening” of sites.

The fast food giant said it would only open when it was “absolutely confident” it could do so safely, with social distancing and personal protective equipment among the areas to be tested.

McDonald’s closed all sites nationwide from 23 March after finding maintaining safe social distancing while operating busy takeaway and drive-through services “increasingly difficult”.

Paul Pomroy, McDonald’s chief executive UK and Ireland, said: “In March, we took the decision to temporarily close our restaurants in the UK and Ireland for the safety of our people and customers. Recently, we began working through a potential and limited reopening. We have been listening to our employees and customers as well as engaging with government and trade bodies to help ensure we do this responsibly, when the time is right.

“Restarting our business is not an easy task, even when reopening in a limited capacity. We have set ourselves some key criteria for reopening, all of which take time – first and foremost, ensuring the wellbeing of our people and creating the right environment for them to return to work; secondly, ensuring we have enough supply of fresh produce; and finally, working in-step with government guidelines to ensure the safety of our customers.

“This week we are carrying out some operational tests to explore what our reopening might look like; the restaurant where these tests take place will remain closed to the public. These tests will include exploring social distancing measures for our crew, PPE options and opening in a limited capacity. For now, we remain closed, and will only reopen when we are absolutely confident we can have the right measures in place to ensure everyone’s wellbeing.”

Nando’s has also announced that it will open six restaurants for delivery after a test period during which it distributed meals for NHS workers.

Burger King has slowly reopened a number of its branches for delivery, with Greggs also looking to open the doors of a small number of its sites next week for a trial period.

Image: Shutterstock