McDonald’s said on Wednesday it would close some 200 American restaurants amid the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement comes days after the restaurant chain teamed up with Walmart, Target and CVS to demand masks everywhere.
“We are spending a lot of time now in our restaurants making sure to keep our teams safe, making sure to keep our customers safe,” McDonald’s President and CEO Chris Kempczinski said in an interview only on “CBS This Morning.” Thursday. “For quite some time we have required our team to wear masks, but we think that in light of what we are seeing, it is wise now that we also ask our customers to wear masks in the restaurant.”
While Walmart and CVS have said they will limit their compliance with the mask’s mandate, Kempczinski did not rule out the possibility of involving authorities if a situation escalates in which a customer refuses to wear a mask.
“If someone is unwilling to wear a mask and abide by our rules, that could be the place where we could go to the police,” he said.
Kempczinski said restaurants and teams have received training on “explaining to customers why we have the requirement,” and the training included “de-escalation.” In recent months, retail workers at various stores across the country have been attacked for trying to impose mask mandates.
“Ultimately, we are not going to ask our crew to get on the path of pity,” he said.
However, Kempczinski said he was “pleased” that clients so far have been “more than willing” to wear a mask in the days after the rule’s implementation.
“I think the vast majority of people, the vast majority of Americans understand why it is important to wear a mask,” he said.
The recent coronavirus safety guide came when McDonald’s announced that they were “refreshing” the company’s values, including initiatives around diversity, inclusion and “keeping our people and our customers first.”
“And that, in the case of the pandemic right now, is about security,” he said.
McDonald’s has also faced allegations that it has fostered a culture of sexual harassment in the workplace, and allegedly punished workers for reporting it. A the lawsuit was filed against the fast food giant last year, and The Nation recently published an article describing “specific workers” and “recurring sexual harassment.”
Kempczinski called the allegations “troubling” and said the company needed to “find out what went wrong” and “quickly make arrangements” to “understand how we do better.”
“It certainly goes against everything we stand for as a company, everything I want us to do in relation to diversity and inclusion,” he said, then added: “You can’t be a McDonald’s-sized brand and business without treat people well, be a good employer. But in a system our size, you will have situations that you are talking about there. “
“When such situations arise, it is important to recognize them, address them, and do everything possible to learn from them,” said Kempczinski. “And so, as CEO, that’s certainly what I’m committed to making sure it happens.”
.
