By Heather Haddon
McDonald's Corp. is asking restaurant owners in the U.S. to make
dozens of changes to ease coronavirus concerns before reopening
their dining rooms, including commitments to clean bathrooms every
half-hour and digital kiosks after each order.
The world's largest fast-food company by sales is also asking
its hundreds of U.S. franchisees to enforce social distancing in
its restaurants, and either close their public soda fountains or
deploy a staff member to monitor them, according to a 59-page
dine-in reopening guide viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The illustrated guide, written by the company last week,
outlines the challenges that McDonald's expects employees to face
as states begin to allow for sit-down restaurant service while
upholding social-distancing rules. A three-page question-and-answer
section in the guide covers security risks to workers managing
resistant customers or loiterers.
New purchasing recommendations, including foot-pulls for doors
to allow customers to open bathroom doors without using their
hands, could lead to new expenses and logistical considerations for
McDonald's hundreds of U.S. restaurant owners, franchisees said.
The guide includes a list of products such as a $310 automatic
towel dispenser and a $718 touchless sink.
All service workers also need to be outfitted with masks and
gloves, and restaurants need to make face shields available for
customers in jurisdictions requiring them, the guide said.
McDonald's wants customers to eat in their 14,000 U.S. locations
again, but the company said it wants its restaurant owners to
reopen when they are safely ready.
"We ask that you remember: we only get one chance to do this the
right way," the guide said.
McDonald's said Wednesday that it will help restaurants
particularly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic to reopen
operations by contributing to owners' marketing funds. The company
also is allowing owners who have lost a significant portion of
their income to apply for help from a "distressed restaurant team"
being set up, according to a protocol document for owners.
Applicants are asked to specify their sales and customer losses
during the pandemic, the impact to their geography and the specific
financial help requested from the company, the document stated.
McDonald's and most other fast-food chains have fared better
than sit-down restaurants during the crisis because they already
made a chunk of sales at drive-throughs. Now nearly two dozen
states have begun to allow restaurants to reopen dining rooms,
though most have mandated occupancy restrictions of 25% or 50%.
McDonald's said it would reopen restaurants slowly in
consultation with local authorities. It said that only a handful in
the U.S. have resumed dine-in service so far.
"We have a responsibility to get this right, and sometimes doing
the right thing takes time," a company spokesman said
Wednesday.
The new restaurant procedures and employee training set a
nationwide standard across U.S. McDonald's locations. Once met, an
restaurant owner can choose whether to reopen dine-in service and
how to staff their restaurants, he said. McDonald's didn't
immediately say what would occur if the conditions weren't met.
Other companies, including Starbucks Corp., Wendy's Co. and
Chick-fil-A Inc., have also said they plan to reopen dine-in
service gradually. Restaurant Brands International Inc., the parent
company of Burger King, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Tim Hortons,
said about 1,000 of its restaurants in North America have fully
reopened with adjustments like acrylic shields to separate
diners.
McDonald's and its U.S. franchisees have discussed reopening
plans for weeks, according to franchisees and internal
communications viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
A top concern, franchisees said, is finding enough workers to
reopen their dining rooms. The chain's official franchisee group
wrote to restaurant owners last month that employment at their U.S.
restaurants has dropped by 100,000 people since the crisis began.
Application numbers have dropped too, they wrote. Restaurant owners
say they are worried that workers will stay away because they fear
contracting the virus or because their unemployment benefits pay
them more than work at McDonald's.
The company's reopening guidelines mean potentially thinner
crews at McDonald's restaurants would have more to do. Employees
should undergo wellness and temperature checks, wash their hands
every hour and abide by social-distancing requirements in kitchens,
McDonald's said in the reopening guide.
Dining rooms should be sanitized according to guidelines set by
outside companies such as Ecolab Inc., McDonald's said, and decals
should be placed on floors to show customers where to wait for
their food and how to move through restaurants. Some tables should
be removed or closed off to allow 6 feet between customers, the
company's guide said.
McDonald's said it was particularly concerned with soda
fountains, which are difficult to clean. McDonald's told owners to
turn off dining-room soda fountains or assign an employee to
operate them.
One franchisee owner said he plans to turn off his
fountain-drink machine and digital kiosks rather than have to clean
them so often. He said he worries for the safety of his workers who
need to enforce social distancing.
The guide provides talking points for confronting customers who
don't want to follow distancing guidelines, as well as people
lingering in bathrooms, sleeping outside or panhandling from
guests.
"Our top priority is safety and, due to our cleaning guidelines,
we ask that you refrain from bathing in our restroom," reads one
suggested way employees should speak with customers.
Workers should use a timer to remind themselves every 30 minutes
to wipe down surfaces including door handles, trash lids, counters
and credit-card machines, according to the guidelines. They should
clean bathrooms every 30 minutes, and post a schedule of completed
cleanings.
If a customer wearing a mask is worried about interacting with
others who aren't, employees should find the guest another spot to
sit or offer to bring food to their car, the guide recommended.
Workers should escort customers who sit too near others to another
section, the guide said.
Workers are to bring food to customers in a bag folded-close
twice, on a tray removed as soon as a diner verifies it is correct.
Workers should make customers feel welcome with a thumbs-up, hand
signals or a verbal greeting, the guide said.
Write to Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 14, 2020 10:44 ET (14:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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