As restaurants all over the UK continue to look for some good news, the first shoots of recovery are emerging.
QSR restaurants are slowly reopening outlets to test the waters.
As travel restrictions are eased and people encouraged to return to work, motorway service stations are one of the first to open doors.
QSR shoots of recovery – travel network
Moto’s reopening of some of its brands, include Burger King and Costa, for takeaway only. Later this week and as early as today further reopening’s include KFC, Greggs and more Costa and Burger King outlets.
As more and more of the QSR restaurant brands we all know and love open, many seem to have a regional focus to test waters.
QSR shoots of recovery – McDonald’s pragmatism
McDonald’s has followed its plans to reopen all of its UK and Ireland restaurants in early June, with 33 openings now achieved. All new openings are in London and the South East.
The reopened restaurants are quite a different experience, but an appropriate one that has adjusted to meet post Covid-19 consumer demand.
The reopened restaurants now provide drive-through with serving staff and customers separated safely by a perspex protective screen.
The new menus are more limited than pre Covid-19 and opening times are also, 11.00 – 22.00.
Payment is requested by McDonald’s to be by contactless if possible, with a spend limit of £25 per vehicle.
The measures taken by McDonald’s seem sensible and balanced, pragmatic solutions to a previously unseen dilemma. Social media yesterday saw consumer demand soar with huge queues of cars patiently waiting for service. McDonald’s in Staines reported a three mile queue at one point yesterday.
QSR shoots of recovery – regional and segmented
Burger King has now reopened over 100 of their restaurants for drive-through and delivery, with a rollout planned for a further 20 restaurants a week. Plans currently are to continue with the advancing rollout to see the Burger King open across the UK. A priority is to see a Burger King restaurant open in every UK city before the end of May.
UK QSR chicken chain KFC is opening across a mix of locations currently. The locations include London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Hampshire, Staffordshire, Sussex, and Greater Manchester.
Nando’s has reopened segmented reopening services and locations with six restaurants for delivery orders opened in London and Manchester, and click-and-collect to customer locations that include Belfast N.I., Maidstone, Sevenoaks, and Worcester.
Grab and Go chain Subway is reopening 600 sandwich stores across the UK.
Greggs the bakery chain is selling food and hot drinks from a limited menu to walk-in customers at a small number of outlets in the north-east of England. Social distancing measures were not detailed.
While still a only a tiny percentage of hospitality’s overall capacity, nonetheless, encouraging first shoots of recovery.
Equipment for QSR and used extensively at McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King and countless other Quick Service Restaurants is available from Equipline
All Antunes Catering Equipment, designed specifically for QSR is currently at 50% off RRP while stocks last, with full warranty and back up services
All Covid-19 News can be seen here.
The Covid-19 Top 20 News Pages can be seen here.