‘Crazy’ day as people order in their favourite fast foods

For the first time in months, South Africans yesterday sank their teeth into hamburgers, hot chips and chicken – among some of their favourite dishes.

Describing government’s move for restaurants and fast-food outlets to open for deliveries as having yielded “positive results”, Restaurants Association of South Africa chief executive officer Wendy Alberts described yesterday as “crazy”.

“This is what people have been longing for,” said Alberts.

In response to the government decision, McDonald’s and Burger King – among the biggest fast-food outlets in the country – said they were “ready to serve”.

“We are ready and eager to serve on the frontline.

“Our customers have missed us and we have missed serving them.

“Unfortunately, only a few of our restaurants will reopen with a delivery service at the moment.

“We find ourselves in the very difficult position of trying to balance each restaurant’s financial stability and customer expectations, against a very small channel of our business.

“We apologise to those customers who are expecting more from us, but we promise [that] when further restrictions are eventually lifted.

“Once that happens, we will open with our full service offering of delivery, drive-thru, takeaway and then later sit-down table service.

“The safety of our people and customers remains our top priority. We are ready with the highest hygiene and food safety standards and procedures, to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in our restaurants,” said Daniel Padiachy, who is executive for supply chain, marketing and technology at McDonald’s.

Ezelna Jones, group marketing executive at Burger King, said: “The health and safety of restaurant staff and customers is the top priority during this initial phase of reopening, which will see 33 Burger King restaurants offering delivery services between 9am and 7pm.

“Unfortunately, due to the poor financial viability of only offering a home delivery service, coupled with the 8pm curfew, only a few Burger King restaurants will be open for deliveries at this time.”

“We believe this is the first step towards our new normal at Burger King, as we get back to business.”

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