McDonald's leaders told employees late last week that they were launching "safety reaffirmation visits" to assess whether U.S. locations were adequately upholding five operating minimums. According to an internal note to employees viewed by QSRweb, the visits will be conducted at each franchisee organization by the end of the year. Each franchisee organization must then visit each of its stores to give the same assessment.

McDonald's — the world's largest QSR business with 39,000 stores – saw sales at its nearly 14,000 U.S. stores drop soon after the pandemic first began restricting restaurant operations. Sales, however, have grown since April. With the latest surge in cases — now at more than 150,000 new cases in the U.S. daily for two weeks — McDonald's leaders said these latest efforts would ensure that all stores are still maintaining safety precautions, particularly those around contactless payment and social distancing.

"With COVID fatigue setting in, we need to continue ensuring the safety of our people and customers and maintain the customer trust we worked so hard to build," according to the the internal memo written by National Franchise Leadership Alliance Chair Mark Salebra, McDonald's Franchisee Tracy Johnstone and McDonald'sUSA Zone President Charlie Strong.

In a separate blog post, McDonald'sU.S. President Joe Erlinger said that the company would soon convene several industry roundtables to share what the system has learned with its industry peers and stakeholders.

"This is an area where we don't see anyone as a competitor," Erlinger wrote in the blog. "The more that an organization of our scope and scale can learn and share what we've learned, the more we can make everyone safer."

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