McDonald's Closes Dining Rooms in Response to Coronavirus -- Update
March 16 2020 - 7:02PM
Dow Jones News
By Heather Haddon
McDonald's Corp. said it would close dining rooms at
company-owned restaurants in the U.S. and asked franchisees to take
the same step to confront the coronavirus pandemic.
The Chicago-based burger giant said its stores would continue to
serve customers through takeout, drive-throughs and delivery.
McDonald's said the bulk of its franchisees would comply with the
new operating plan.
"We're going to do whatever is necessary to help every
owner-operator and partner survive this crisis. We will not let you
fail," Chief Executive Chris Kempczinski said in a video the
company released on Monday.
McDonald's said it was complying with the growing number of
cities and states that have banned dining-in at restaurants. The
company said it also would close children's play spaces at U.S.
restaurants and delay the construction projects at restaurants
across the country.
Years of declining guest visits and a glut of restaurants
already was weighing on sales growth across the U.S. restaurant
industry. Now forced closures and efforts to separate workers from
customers during the coronavirus pandemic are putting unprecedented
financial strain on restaurants from McDonald's down to independent
cafes.
President Trump on Monday said that Americans should avoid
eating and drinking at bars, restaurants and food courts. Roughly a
dozen states, including Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington, New
Jersey, Connecticut and New York, have banned eating at restaurants
and bars to try to slow the virus's spread. Visits to restaurants
nationwide were down by a third at the end of last week compared
with last year, according to data by booking site OpenTable.
"There's a quiet, calm sadness underlying it all," said Alex
Sirigu, manager of Atwood's Tavern, a Cambridge, Mass.,
establishment that laid off 25 employees on Monday and passed out
food to some of them as well as to musicians who regularly perform
at the venue.
Starbucks Corp., Shake Shack Inc. and Chick-fil-A Inc. also are
pushing customers to drive-through and delivery as they shut down
dining rooms at their thousands of U.S. stores. Shake Shack on
Monday withdrew its full-year guidance. Denny's Corp. said the
pandemic would materially impact its finances. The company said it
would cancel a stock-repurchase program and draw down on its
revolving credit line.
McDonald's, which owns around 5% of its 13,850 U.S. restaurants,
is among the U.S. chains that have shifted ownership of more of
their restaurants to franchisees in recent years. That presents
another potential weak spot in the U.S. restaurant sector, if
franchisees lack the reserves to withstand a long sales drought.
McDonald's and other chains have asked owners to make big
investments to upgrade technology at their stores in recent years,
obliging some to take on more debt.
Write to Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 16, 2020 18:47 ET (22:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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