McDonald’s reveals why first restaurants to reopen are all down south – and it’s about food safety
The fast food giant announced it would be reopening last week following the coronavirus shutdown.
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And yesterday it revealed which branches would be the first to trial its new system - with a slimmed down menu.
They include three in Chelmsford, Essex, four across London and three in Luton, one in Ipswich, three in Kent and one in Watford.
But fans of the fast food chain - who have been eagerly waiting for it to reopen - have claimed there is a "southern bias".
One fan wrote on Twitter: "More southern bias, this time from McDonalds. Feed the north!"
Another added: "Has McDonalds forgot the north exists? They can’t further feed this southern sense of superiority..."
But McDonald’s has revealed that there is a reason why no branches will be opening in the north yet, and it is to do with distribution and food safety.
A spokeswoman said: “These 15 restaurants were chosen for their proximity to our distribution centre as we slowly but safely seek to reopen our restaurants and restart our supply chain.
"Rest assured we are working hard to reopen more restaurants across the UK and Ireland at the right time.”
What items are included on the reduced McDonald's menu?
MCDONALD'S has confirmed it'll be running a reduced menu when restaurants reopen on May 13.
This is because the chain will have less staff working at one time so they can maintain social distancing measures.
Here's what's being sold:
Main Menu:
- Cheeseburger
- Hamburger
- Double Cheeseburger
- Big Mac
- Quarter Pounder with Cheese
- McChicken Sandwich
- Filet-O-Fish
- Chicken McNuggets
- Chicken Selects
- Vegetable Deluxe
- Veggie Dippes
Sides & Desserts:
- Fries
- Mozzarella Dippers
- Core McFlurry (Oreo, Maltesers, Smarties)
- Fruit Bag
Drinks:
- Coke
- Diet Coke
- Coke Zero
- Fanta
- Sprite
- Oasis
- Black Coffee
- White Coffee
- Latte
- Cappuccino
- Espresso
- Flat White
- Tea
- Orange Juice
- Fruit Shoot
- Water
- Happy Meal Water
Happy Meal Variants:
- Happy Meal - Hamburger
- Happy Meal - Cheeseburger
- Happy Meal - Four Nuggets
- Happy Meal - Veggie Dippers
Branches will operate under temporarily reduced hours of 11am until 10pm, which means they won't be serving breakfast options for the foreseeable future.
Strict sanitary measures will be in place during the reopening, including limited numbers of staff working to respect social distancing, gloves and face masks will be worn by workers, and there will be perspex screens installed at checkouts.
Employees will also have their temperatures checked before each shift to make sure they're fit to work.
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McDonald's had temporarily closed all 1,350 restaurants on March 23 due to coronavirus.
The restaurant chain had shut off seating and children's play areas, and it also started using sticky tape to mark out boxes on floors to indicate safe distances.
The chain has also amended its menu selection to include vegetarian burgers - but hasn't yet added its breakfast options.