Our focus on supporting franchisees, crew and communities in this time of uncertainty

McDonald’s approach to challenging situations is guided by our belief that we are all in this together, and our System has come together in extraordinary ways over the last few months to help each other, our customers and the communities we serve.

We remain committed to leading by example and being transparent in the actions we are taking along the way. McDonald’s has seen a lot over our 65 years, and in taking a long-term mindset and staying true to our purpose of serving community.  Our ability to learn from each other as this evolves gives us confidence in a successful recovery. 

In that spirit, our commitment is to provide continuous updates to ensure that our customers and communities have a central point of information on our actions. 

We deployed a strong plan in China

China’s plan focused on the customer, the restaurant and the community.  Our actions included stepped up hygiene, contactless delivery, changing operations of restaurants, and taking care of the community and providing meals to healthcare workers through the Charity Kitchen Program. 

These learnings are being applied throughout the rest of our global system, and supporting us to emerge stronger from this crisis. 

Keeping restaurants open to serve communities where safe to do so

People need food, and we will be there for them where we believe it is safe to do so. We have implemented significant hygiene measures and are taking the utmost care in adapting our Drive Thru, Take-Away and Delivery services to help keep crew members and customers safe, while also providing our communities with the service they need during this disruptive and challenging time.

We are following the expert guidance of health officials and governments.  Restaurants around the world are open where we believe it is safe and advisable to do so.  In some communities and countries, including the U.S., we have closed seating areas, and are focused on safely serving our customers through walk-in take out, Drive Thru and McDelivery.

Supporting franchisees’ efforts to serve their communities & support their crews

We are managing this crisis together, as a McDonald’s System, which is what makes us strong. We are also managing this situation from a position of financial strength.   

We are working with franchisees around the world in order to promote financial liquidity (e.g. rent deferrals) during this period of uncertainty.

Both in the U.S., and in countries around the world, we are using three legs of the stool to promote franchisee liquidity.

We're doing this because it is important to us that our franchisees, who are small business owners, can continue to run viable businesses and support their communities and crew. 

Supporting our restaurant employees in a time of need

As a company in nearly 120 countries, we share a collective responsibility to help our communities in times of need. How we act—and what we do—as a System directly translates into how we take care of our people.

As part of our commitment to the highest standards of cleanliness, we have released guidance to restaurants around enhanced measures of hygiene and handwashing.  In addition, in some markets, including the U.S., we have closed seating areas and PlayPlaces and are focused on safely serving our customers through walk-in, take out, Drive Thru and McDelivery.

We know we are all in this together, and we all have a responsibility to protect our sick workers and give them the support they need to stay home and recover. We are asking employees who are sick to stay home.  Below are some helpful facts on support for employees that are sick during these difficult times:

• At corporate-owned restaurants in the U.S., we announced on the week of March 9, that we are providing two weeks of paid leave for employees who are impacted by the virus.
• McDonald’s also supported the new Coronavirus Relief Package that passed Congress this week and provides two weeks of paid sick leave.  It was the right thing to do. The package requires a large number of our franchisees to offer paid sick leave to their employees.  

Supporting our communities

We will continue to support all our communities as we have done throughout our history, and we remain as dedicated as ever to empowering our System to be good neighbors.

We are incredibly proud that franchisees and partners around the world are are supporting first responders, hospital and healthcare workers with free food and/or drinks in recognition and support of the work they are doing to help others.  

Here’s a snapshot of what’s happened in the past couple of weeks around the world:  

In the U.S., some franchisees are providing free lunches to children dependent on free school lunch programs where school is closed, others are providing free meals to healthcare workers, and a franchisee in the Midwest is offering up their parking lots for Blood Drives.

McDonald’s is a System of 2.2 million people worldwide, all of whom share a collective responsibility to help our communities in times of need. We will continue to support all our communities as we have done throughout our history, and we remain as dedicated as ever to empowering our system to be good neighbors.

We are incredibly proud that franchisees and partners around the world are supporting first responders, hospital and healthcare workers with free food and/or drinks in recognition and support of the work they are doing to help others. Some examples of this important support for communities is below:  

• Across Europe, many markets are providing free drinks, coffee and meals to first responders and healthcare workers on the front lines.  
• In Guatemala, the restaurants are providing food to workers who are constructing temporary hospitals to support treatment of those diagnosed with COVID-19.  All meals include supportive messages from the McDonald’s crew to the medical professionals and workers.
• In the Philippines, we will be providing food to medical health workers, NGO volunteers and parts of the population that are experiencing challenges accessing food.  
• Hamburger University in Brazil made courses in food safety, hygiene and sustainable development available to micro/small food businesses.