McDonald’s Hosts Second COVID-19 Roundtable with Industry Peers, Featuring Mayo Clinic Experts

McDonald’s Hosts Second COVID-19 Roundtable with Industry Peers, Featuring Mayo Clinic Experts

On March 10, McDonald’s hosted its second COVID-19 roundtable for quick service restaurant industry peers, featuring presentations from Mayo Clinic experts.

Stacey Rizza, M.D., infectious disease expert at Mayo Clinic, spoke to the group about the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines. Matthew Binnicker, Ph.D., Director of Clinical Virology at Mayo Clinic’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, presented the latest developments and science around COVID-19 testing. Additionally, employees from McDonald’s Safety & Security Department and Workplace Solutions presented on the company’s approach to COVID-19 testing and vaccines.

This event was the second industry roundtable hosted by McDonald’s to share knowledge on the evolving pandemic with peer companies. Attendees included representatives from QSR peer brands and industry associations. The first COVID-19 roundtable took place in December 2020.

Discussion among attendees emphasized the importance of providing good educational resources to QSR employees around the vaccine, including addressing safety concerns, role modeling and acknowledging concerns unique to diverse employee populations.

“Throughout the pandemic, it has been very valuable for McDonald’s to learn from and exchange knowledge with Mayo Clinic, local markets governmental and health institutions and food industry peers,” said Piotr Jucha, McDonald’s Senior Vice President of Global Development and Restaurant Solutions Group. “I am proud of how McDonald’s worked as a global System to strengthen our safety and wellness measures. We’ll continue doing our part to help keep people safe and encourage our employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine.”

 McDonald’s currently provides up to four hours of paid time for crew at U.S. company-owned restaurants and corporate staff who get vaccinated. McDonald’s is also connecting employees to trusted, third-party resources to get information on the vaccine.

To inform the company’s longer-term strategy in response to COVID-19, McDonald’s engaged Mayo Clinic in July 2020 to review its approach and to share best practices around COVID-19 prevention for customer and crew safety. Comprising professionals from both Mayo Clinic and McDonald’s, a team meets regularly to discuss the evolving pandemic, associated science and best practices to mitigate the spread of the virus in restaurant and office settings.

McDonald’s has continued to evolve process changes in U.S. restaurants and globally. Encompassed in a framework called Safety+, these efforts build on more than six decades of safety-first leadership in McDonald’s restaurants, and supplement the work of global markets to help keep customers and crew safe.