How Restaurants are Responding to the COVID-19 Outbreak

As the world faces a major health crisis due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak, restaurants are rushing to find ways to continue serving customers while limiting the chances of spreading the virus. The changes being implemented by these restaurants range from reducing the ways customers can order food to changing cleaning protocols. Below you’ll find a description of each restaurant’s plan to combat COVID-19 and how it will impact customers. We will be updating this article as the situation evolves.

No matter which restaurant you choose to get your meal from, one thing remains constant. The less person to person interaction you have, the better. For that reason, we highly recommend having your food delivered if possible. Most restaurant chains are available to order from the following services:

• DoorDash – New customers get $5 off your first free orders
• Postmates – New customers get a $100 delivery fee credit
• GrubHub – New customers get $10 off their first order
• Uber Eats – New customers get $7 off their first order. Use promo code eats-0l0k7 at checkout.

McDonald's closes restaurant seating, PlayPlaces in response to Coronavirus

McDonald’s corporate-owned locations have taken a number of precautions in response to the Coronavirus, and encourage their franchisee-owned locations to follow them as well. McDonald’s locations are open, but the seating areas, Play Places, self-serve beverage machines and kiosks are all closed. McDonald’s drive thrus remain open, and the inside counter is available for walk-ins to order food for carryout. McDonald’s is also still offering deliver through third parties such as Uber Eats and Postmates.

To read McDonald’s full statement on how they are responding to the virus, visit their corporate website.

Starbucks closes some locations, limits hours at others

Before venturing to your local Starbucks, you should call ahead and make sure that they are open. In response to COVID-19, Starbucks has reduced hours at many stores and completely closed locations that are in high social interaction areas such as malls and university campuses. If your local Starbucks is open, don’t expect to grab a seat to enjoy your latte. All Starbucks locations that remain open have removed their seating and ask customers to take their food and beverage to go.

Chick-fil-A closes dining areas in response to COVID-19

In an effort to limit human to human interaction in their restaurants, Chick-fil-A has announced a number of significant changes, including the closure of all seating areas and playgrounds. What that means for customers will vary by location. Some Chick-fil-A's will be drive-thru only, while other locations will still offer walk-in counter service and delivery. Call your local Chick-fil-A before visiting to see what your ordering options are.

Additional precautions that Chick-fil-A is taking to keep guests and employees safe and healthy include serving all food in to go packaging and no longer offering drive-thru customers paper menus.

COVID-19 leads Burger King to offer free delivery and free meals to schools

To help make it easier for their customers during this difficult time, Burger King is offering free delivery through their mobile app. Burger King is also offering free kid’s meals to some schools that are shut down, to feed children who rely on schools for their daily lunch.

Subway increases cleaning in wake of Coronavirus

Subway is making changes to the way their restaurants operate to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Those changes include increasing the frequency of cleaning and sanitizing of restaurants, eliminating the use of baskets and trays and reinforcing their health and safety protocols with restaurant teams. While Subway locations do remain open for walk in business, it may be a good idea to limit your person to person contact by ordering from Uber Eats, DoorDash, GrubHub or Postmates.

Wendy's closes dining rooms and offers free delivery in wake of COVID-19

Wendy’s locations are still open, however customers are not permitted to dine in. Wendy’s drive-thrus remain open, and the inside counter remains open for walk-in to go orders. Additionally, you can limit your risk of exposure to COVID-19 by having your Wendy’s delivered. To encourage customers to get their food delivered, Wendy’s is offering free delivery on orders over $10 placed through GrubHub and Postmates.

Arby's closes seating areas and increases cleaning to prevent spread of virus

Arby’s has closed their dine-in seating at all corporate-owned and the majority of franchise-owend restaurants in response to the Coronavirus. They are also increasing the frequency of cleaning on high-touch surfaces, such as doors, bathrooms and the ordering area. Drive-thrus remain open as do inside counters for walk-up take out orders. Additionally, Arby’s can be ordered for delivery through services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats.