McDonald's holds off on dine-in service in the US as coronavirus cases keep climbing

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) is putting a halt to its plans to reopen dine-in service at its US restaurants as cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) continue to climb in the country, the Wall Street Journal has reported. The fast-food chain plans to wait another three weeks before it makes a decision about resuming normal business at its restaurants, according to the report. On Wednesday, the US reported a record daily high 52,000 new cases of COVID-19 across the country. READ: McDonald’s flexes 4Q expectations beat, surging same-store sales growth “Our resiliency will be tested again. Covid-19 cases are on the rise,” said a company letter by Joe Erlinger, McDonald’s US president, and Mark Salebra, head of the National Franchisee Leadership Alliance owners association, that was viewed by The Wall Street Journal. Restaurant owners that began offering dine-in service can continue if their jurisdiction still allows it, the letter said, but the company decided to pause additional openings as a number of state and local governments tighten social-distancing regulations ahead of the July 4 holiday weekend. Around 2,200 of the chain’s 14,000 US restaurants are currently allowing dine-in service. Shares of McDonald’s held steady on Wall Street at US$186.01 on Thursday morning. Contact Angela at angela@proactiveinvestors.com Follow her on Twitter @AHarmantas