Burger King, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Tim Hortons will start reopening dining rooms under “guidance from local authorities” as parent company Restaurant Brands International (RBI) moves into the next phase of its pandemic strategy.
In a letter Tuesday, RBI CEO Jose Cil said the company plans to welcome back “millions of guests to dine in” at its locations.
“We are now moving into the next phase of reopening dining rooms according to guidance from local authorities and will be welcoming back millions of guests to dine in at our convenient locations,” Cil wrote.
In so doing, the chains would be the first major fast-food concepts to plan to reopen dining rooms.
Quick-service chains have done brisk business in recent weeks by focusing on takeout, delivery and, in particular, their drive-thrus, which have taken on a new importance as the pandemic has shuttered restaurants around the country.
Chains such as Wendy’s and McDonald’s, as well as Burger King and Popeyes, have seen business normalize in the past couple of weeks. Popeyes, in fact, largely returned to its strong pre-coronavirus sales levels in April, RBI said last week.
The strong business has made franchisees throughout the fast-food sector hesitant to reopen their dining rooms anytime soon. With reduced staffing and more focused operations through a drive-thru that is suddenly generating nearly as much business as the entire restaurant did pre-pandemic, many operators don’t feel a financial need to go back to normal.
Brands have taken a slow approach to reopening their dining rooms. Chick-fil-A said earlier this month that it would open the inside of its restaurants for carryout. Starbucks, meanwhile, has reopened most of its closed restaurants but has likewise limited its service to carryout.
RBI, however, told franchisees late last week that they would be required to reopen their dining rooms so long as local mandates to keep them closed were eased. More than a dozen states have eased regulations forbidding dine-in service.
In his letter, Cil that “We have fully embraced the notion that parts of our restaurants need to change—certainly, for the foreseeable future and possibly forever.”
For instance, he said, the company has mandated that its employees wear masks and gloves, and the company is evaluating more comfortable and reusable masks that could become part of the chains’ standard uniforms.
He said the company has acrylic shields and contactless service at most of its restaurants, a safe-distance rule and signage to indicate which tables are open and which ones are not.
The company has turned off its self-service soda fountains and is offering beverages, extra condiments and trays from behind the front counter. The company also has hand sanitizer available and will sanitize tables between each use.
Cil also said workers around the world “are participating in thorough, rigorous training to ensure all of our health and safety protocols are well-known and implemented.”
“As we read all the stories about our communities reopening, all of the focus is understandably on ways to continue to keep up apart,” Cil said. “But one of the most normal things in our lives is coming together, and that often includes sitting down with your family or friends and enjoying a meal together at a restaurant.”
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