England is on its way into their second lockdown from the 5th of November to the 2nd of December. But, despite all hospitality venues being asked to close for a month, McDonald’s has announced that they will be staying open...Well, partially open anyway.
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The fast-food giant’s doors will still be closed but during lockdown but their drive-thru service, as well as their delivery and takeaway service, will remain open. A McDonald’s spokesperson announced:
Following last night’s announcement of a new four-week lockdown in England, we have confirmed that our Drive-Thru, takeaway and delivery services can remain open. Our dine-in areas will be closed during this period starting on November 5. We will continue to follow the guidance and regulations as set out by public health and government authorities and will confirm any changes to our services to our employees first and then our customers.
To add to the good news the chain also announced that they would not be going back to a reduced lockdown menu and will instead keep all their new and exciting goods on the table.
This means that all of those who have yet to get their hands on a spicy quarter pounder will still have some time.
However, as McDonald’s is a franchise some stores may choose to operate slightly differently. So before you place an order or hop in your car to head to your nearest drive-thru, check the McDonald’s restaurant locator app to find your closest available Macca’s.
McDonald’s Selling Food Past Their Best-Before Dates
During the first lockdown, McDonald’s closed all of its 1,350 restaurants across the UK before slowly reopening them with limited menus back in June. However, last month it had been discovered that some of the fast-food branches were using food up to a month past its best-before date in order to make up for the amount of food waste from the first lockdown.
The Sun had reported the issue in October accompanied by photos of McNuggets being sold with a best-before date of September 7th.
McDonald’s has responded to the claims by stating that their food is safe to eat up until the use-by date when it is then binned. A spokesperson commented on the issue stating that the company unusually sets their best-before dates much shorter than their use-by dates to ensure freshness and that the dates had been extended to reduce food waste:
While preparing to reopen restaurants earlier this year, we extended best-before dates on a small selection of frozen products to reduce waste. These will all be used comfortably within their use-by date. We worked closely with suppliers to ensure safety and quality were not compromised in any way by this extension.
