McDonald's Halts U.S. Reopening Plans

(RTTNews) - McDonald's Corp. is delaying the reopening of all dine-in services in its U.S. restaurants by 21 days due to the increase in coronavirus cases across the country, reports said citing an internal letter.

In the letter signed by its U.S. president Joe Erlinger and Mark Salebra, head of the National Franchisee Leadership Alliance, the burger chain said, "Our resiliency will be tested again. COVID-19 cases are on the rise."

The move comes ahead of the July 4 holiday weekend as many states and local governments are taking strict stand against plans to reopen bars and restaurants amid rising cases of infection.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently said that he won't permit to restart indoor dining in New York City as it enters the next stage of reopening. In California's 19 counties, restaurants, movie theaters, and other recreation centers are required to close indoor operations for at least three weeks.

Following months-long restrictions following the coronavirus pandemic, McDonald's in May started offering dining -in services in around 2,200 of its 14,000 U.S. restaurants. Dining-in remain closed at majority of locations, while it offers drive-through, takeaway and delivery services.

The company now said the locations that have already reopened their indoor services should consult guidance from local and state officials on whether to roll back services.

The fast-food chain continues to report sharp sales drop impacted by the pandemic. McDonald's recently said its 95 percent of restaurants around the world are open to serve customers.

In mid-June, McDonald's reported that total comparable sales for the month of May declined 20.9 percent, while U.S. comparable sales were down 5.1 percent. In April, total comparable sales were down 39.0 percent and U.S. comparable sales were down 19.2 percent. However, its comparable sales improved sequentially from late March through May.