McDonald’s will require customers to wear facial covers, effective August 1, and will halt the reopening of dining rooms for another 30 days as coronavirus cases continue to rise in some parts of the country.
The company will also add protective panels in its restaurants to allow franchisees to increase order intake, seating capacity, and staffing levels.
McDonald’s joins other major retailers and restaurant companies such as Walmart, Kroger, and Starbucks, to require customers to wear masks at all locations in the United States.
Employees, who will receive additional training to serve customers who do not want to wear masks, will offer them a mask. If the customer refuses, an employee will guide them to a designated pickup location at a safe distance from other customers.
“The intent of this policy is to take a proactive approach and focus on finding solutions quickly when customers are unable or unwilling to wear a mask,” said US President Joe Erlinger and president of the National Leadership Alliance of Franchises, Mark Salebra. “In those situations where a client refuses to cover his face, we will establish additional procedures to serve him in a friendly and expeditious manner.”
Protective panels are another security measure for your restaurants. Erlinger and Salebra said in the letter that they do not intend to replace personal protective equipment or adherence to social distancing.
The fast-food chain paused the reopening of the canteen on July 1 for three weeks amid a surge of coronavirus cases. About 15 percent of the 14,000 McDonald’s locations had reopened their dining rooms at the time. Franchisees who have reopened canteens and are not facing setbacks from local officials can decide if they want to keep them open.
Shares of McDonald’s, which has a market value of $ 152 billion, are almost flat so far this year. The company is expected to report its second quarter results on Tuesday.
