McDonald’s has reopened 168 more drive-thrus today with 22 restaurants resuming deliveries.
The fast-food giant is set to reopen nearly 1,000 restaurants for drive-thru and McDelivery customers over the next three days.
In a bid to try and stop the lengthy queues when drive thrus return, McDonald’s is announcing its chosen restaurants on the day they open.
Long queues have already formed around a McDonald’s in Livingston as more than 160 drive thrus reopened earlier today
Cars are filling the car park of Gateshead’s McDonald’s restaurants as hungry customers head for a bite of fast food
Perspex screens between drive-thru workers and customers have been installed to further reduce the risk of spreading the virus
A McDonald’s spokesman said: ‘This week we will reopen drive-thrus across the UK and Ireland, starting with 168 locations from 11am today. We will also see a further 22 restaurants open for McDelivery today.
‘We are glad to be back but it will look a little different and may take a little longer, so please bear with us.’
Restaurants are reopening with protective screens between staff and customers. Workers are also expected to wash their hands every 30 minutes.
McDonald’s staff will regularly disinfect surfaces at their stores to reduce the risk of customers and employees transmitting coronavirus between each other
Cleaning stations will be set up inside McDonald’s restaurants for visiting delivery drivers, who will have no contact with restaurant staff when they arrive to pick up orders
Protective screens have been put in place inside the kitchens and at drive-thrus to lower the risk of contamination.
For customers, the major changes are a reduced menu and a £25 spending cap, which has been introduced as staff get used to working in smaller teams and to reduce waiting times at drive-thru lanes.
What will be included in McDonalds’ limited menu?
Main Menu:
Cheeseburger
Hamburger
Double Cheeseburger
Big Mac
Quarter Pounder with Cheese
McChicken Sandwich
Filet-O-Fish
Chicken McNuggets
Chicken Selects
Sides & Desserts:
Fries
Mozzarella Dippers
McFlurry (Oreo, Maltesers, Smarties)
Fruit Bag
Diners are also being asked to pay via contactless cards.
McDelivery drivers will have no direct contact with staff inside the restaurant and handwashing facilities have been set up to prevent any possible spread of Covid-19 germs.
Reduced hours mean there will be no breakfast offering, with restaurants only serving customers between 11am and 10pm.
Milkshakes are among the items missing from the menu, as well as fruit bags.
By Thursday all of McDonald’s drive-thrus will be open – meaning 1019 of its restaurants be serving customers in their cars or via McDelivery.
It is only announcing which stores have reopened on the day it happens.
A McDonald’s spokesman said: ‘On occasion, we have taken the decision to close drive thru lanes where demand has impacted local communities or the safety of our people or customers.
‘We will continue to work with local authorities and the police as we extend our reopening plans.
‘With smaller teams, we will still be offering a limited menu over reduced hours, and we ask that you make contactless payments and limit your spend to £25.
‘We are continuing to review these measures as we reopen, but for now, these restrictions remain in place to help our employees, customers and delivery partner couriers to remain safe.
‘To manage the anticipated demand, we will release the locations of the reopening restaurants on the morning of each day.’
In Essex, Southend-on-Sea council has put in place a parking ban on roads near it’s McDonald’s restaurant, to ease traffic ahead of its predicted reopening on Wednesday morning, according to Echo News.
Videos have already emerged of demand at some of the 44 pilot restaurants which trialled McDonald’s social distancing measures.
One member of the public filmed a seemingly endless stretch of traffic waiting to access the McDonalds A41 Watford restaurant, commenting: ‘How badly do they want a big mac. That’s a two hour wait for some nuggets.’
June is set to be a busy month for fast food chains reopening.
Burger King has plans to reopen 350 restaurants by the end of the month, while Greggs hopes to reopen 800 bakeries in the coming weeks.
KFC has announced 500 its restaurants are set to reopen, while Starbucks has been open for takeaways at 150 coffee shops in recent weeks.
Yesterday Pret a Manger reopened 204 restaurants – the vast majority of which are in London.
Workers will wear protective gear including gloves in their stores as they prepare food for contact-free delivery, and hand over bags to delivery drivers to take to customers
McDonald’s is reopening more than 160 drive thrus today as part of a major return this week. There were long queues when the fast food giant reopened in Sutton on May 21