McDonald's reveals plan to open more branches

McDonald’s said it has ‘not forgotten’ about people in the north of England as it revealed a plan to open all of its Drive-Thru restaurants in the coming weeks.

The fast food giant reopened 39 restaurants in England and Ireland last week as it prepares to get back up and running with new safety measures in place – but all of the English locations were in the south east.

In a message to customers, McDonald’s chief executive Paul Pomroy said the chain has ‘not forgotten’ about areas where McDonald’s remains shut after outrage that six of the reopened branches were in Peterborough alone.

He wrote: ‘To help us test the new procedures and to slowly restart our supply chain, the pilot restaurants in the UK are all located close to our head office and to one of our distribution centres in the south east.

‘We wanted to keep this group controlled and to test the impact of reopening multiple restaurants in one area first, instead of spreading ourselves too thinly and to make it easier for our employees and suppliers.

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‘I promise I have not forgotten about any part of the UK or Ireland.

‘We are taking our time to test the new ways of working in our restaurants, ensuring that we can continue to help our teams to work safely, and to get back to the communities we have proudly served for so many years.’

Mr Pomroy revealed McDonald’s will make a further announcement this week about reopening more restaurants and expanding its delivery service.

Ultimately, McDonald’s aims to reopen all its Drive-Thru restaurants by the end of June, he said.

Mr Pomory’s letter states: ‘Next week we will confirm the reopening timetable for all of our Drive-Thrus, alongside when and where we will increase the availability of McDelivery.

‘Over the coming months, we will explore how to extend the menu, increase our opening hours and reintroduce those much-missed McMuffins at breakfast.’

It adds: ‘Thank you to those who have taken the time to contact us asking when your town can expect a return of the Big Mac, we are working on it, keep an eye on our website and social media channels next week for more news on this.’

At yesterday’s Downing Street press conference Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the nation to ‘watch this space’ as he hinted he would reveal more plans to ease lockdown rules in the coming days.

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