McDonald's is gearing up for a mega reopening throughout the country, if lockdown restrictions are eased next week.
When McDonald's restaurants nationwide closed their doors for lockdown, it was the first time many of their 24-hour restaurants had shut.
As a result, the business now faces a mammoth and logistically challenging task of restocking and reopening 130 of their 170 outlets as New Zealand makes moves to alert level 3, which allows drive-thru access. About 10,000 staff are now being retrained to meet the new rules.
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Preparations to fulfill the 1.6 million orders a week has been a complex undertaking spanning the entire business, says Dave Howse, managing director of McDonald's New Zealand.
"The number of scenarios we have worked through is immense – staggered re-openings, when to place orders with suppliers, physical distancing, what menu items we can offer, one region at a time, reduced staff availability," he said.
The company had worked through all the "what ifs".
"We feel prepared and, while we don't have all the answers, we've got an extensive team and suppliers working on solutions."
McDonald's needs to get ingredients from a network of suppliers up and down the country. With 85 per cent of ingredients being locally sourced, the company says favourites will be on the menu from reopening.
"And if not, items won't be far away," he said.
Reinstating supplier orders with flexible start dates has been a challenge in itself, (McDonald's beetroot, for example, is ordered a year in advance) as three to 10 days is the window of time needed to re-supply key ingredients.
Macca's weekly shopping list
• 17,475 lettuce
• 33 tonnes of cheese and dairy
• 6.4 tonnes of fish products
• 252,498 eggs
• 233 tonnes of potato products
• 1.9 million buns, muffins, rolls and bagels
• 73 tonnes of chicken products
• 112 tonnes of beef
• 12.6 tonnes of Angus beef
• 4.4 tonnes of tomatoes
Space on trucks and which restaurants would have priority of supply was another key decision.
"We left this decision to the experts." Its distribution and logistics partner, Martin Brower, has been planning the number of trucks, departure times and route options to get as many restaurants the stock they need to open as quickly as possible,said Howse.
In the meantime, McDonald's will go through the process of retraining its 10,100 employees, having devised a new "contactless" service structure and further enhanced hygiene, sanitation and food-safety procedures.
Manuals, checklists and training modules on how the restaurant will operate have been written over the lockdown period.
Drive-thru and delivery both ensured physical distancing and he said they were great solutions for operating under alert level 3. Eating-in at the restaurant is a thing of the past at alert levels 3 and 4.
Maccas fans have taken to social media over the past three weeks with their own chicken nugget and Big Mac sauce recipes.
"Because of our size, being adaptable is sometimes like trying to quickly turn a tanker," said Howse.
He warns that there could be glitches.
"That's why we have done a huge amount of planning for whatever comes ahead. We know we won't get it all right. And that's OK. We know if we clearly communicate to our crew and our customers, they will understand and appreciate that."
McDonald's Restaurants NZ took up $6.8 million in Government wage subsidies. The company says there have been no layoffs and staff were paid their full wages for the first week and 80 per cent since. Other franchisees have also taken up the subsidy.
• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website