What Restaurants Should Do to Curb the Spread of Coronavirus
Workstream Blog

What Restaurants Should Do to Curb the Spread of Coronavirus

By Nigel Seah

March 31, 2020 | 2 min read

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As of March 30, 2020, there are already approximately 160,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US, with roughly 3,000 deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated that COVID-19 is spreading easily and sustainably in affected areas, a phenomenon known as ‘community spreading.’ Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has shared his insights on why the situation will get worse. With that in mind, as many businesses are highly dependent on a physical consumer base, restaurants need to step up efforts to curb the spread of the virus. Here’s how some fast food restaurants are doing this.

McDonald’s

McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger announced that the fast food giant has ramped up its sanitation procedures. On top of regular deep-cleaning procedures, McDonald’s will increase deep-cleaning frequencies at high touch areas. These include ordering kiosks, pick-up counters, and restrooms. McDelivery procedures will also be enhanced to ensure that packaging remains sterile before food is put into it. In terms of the well-being of hourly workers, Erlinger said that McDonald’s USA would support employees in staying home if they are sick. The chain has announced that corporate-owned restaurant employees would be provided up to 14 days of paid sick leave should they need to be quarantined.

Starbucks

The coffee franchise giant said that workers who suspect that they were exposed to the virus are eligible for 14 days of catastrophe pay. This is on top of other benefits like sick pay, vacation pay, and personal time off. In terms of improving hygiene, Starbucks has increased cleaning and sanitization for all company-operated stores and paused the use of personal cups. In terms of social distancing, the brand put in place a temporary nationwide “to go” model in which it will close down sitting in all its cafe and patio areas. Locations in “high-social gathering locations” will also be closed.

Chick-fil-A

According to Chick-fil-A’s President Tim Tassopoulos, disinfecting procedures have been ramped up. The brand initially only implemented some operational changes including a closure of playgrounds, serving all meals in carry-out packing and halting the provision of a printed menu at drive-thrus. However, most recently, Chick-fil-A announced a temporary closure of dining room seating. Some of the restaurants will only offer services via drive-thrus or takeout, delivery, and mobile order. 

Taco Bell

Taco Bell has announced that it is considering closing dining rooms in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The fast food chain said that it is in the midst of changing its operations to only serve customers via drive-thrus and delivery. This is done of course to increase social distancing efforts. In order to support its employees in these difficult times, Taco Bell’s CEO Mark King said that employees who are required to stay at home or those working at a restaurant that needs to be closed will all be paid.

Shake Shack

Shake Shack’s CEO Randy Garutti said that the burger chain is stepping up its sanitization efforts. Sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer stations would be placed in stores, and all condiments and utensils will be distributed by its employees. All mobile and to-go orders will also be placed in a new, fully sealed bag. In terms of employee well-being, all members of the Shake Shack team are offered sick pay. Garutti has hinted that the brand will continue to adapt to the situation as it progresses, indicating that we may see certain branches “adjusting hours or modifying our operations.”
By Nigel Seah
Nigel is not just a marketer at Workstream, he is also a graduate of Psychology and Marketing of Singapore Management University. He has multiple experiences in various areas of marketing - advertising, email marketing, and content writing. Fun fact, prior to joining Workstream, he took a semester off school to intern at SAP in Brazil.

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Personal Information and Sensitive Personal Information

Before we discuss the right to limit and the right to opt-out, we must first define personal information and how it relates to sensitive personal information.

Personal information is any data that identifies, relates to, or could reasonably be linked to you or your household. A few examples of personal information include:

  • Name or nickname
  • Email address
  • Purchase history
  • Browsing history
  • Location data
  • Employment data
  • IP address
  • Profiles businesses create about you, including pseudonymous profiles (“user1234”)
  • Sensitive personal information

Sensitive personal information or “SPI” is a subset of personal information, defined as:

  • Identifying information (e.g. social security number, driver’s license)
  • Financial data (e.g. debit or credit card numbers)
  • Precise geolocation (within a radius of 1,850 feet)
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Right to Opt-Out

Californians have the right to opt-out of the sale and sharing of their personal information. That means you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties (e.g. data brokers, advertisers). You also have the right to opt-out of the sharing of your personal information to prevent the targeting of ads across different businesses, websites, apps, or services.

CCPA-covered businesses must provide a link to allow you to exercise this right. It is usually found at the bottom of a webpage and will say “do not sell or share my personal information” or “your privacy choices.” Sometimes businesses offer privacy choices through a pop-up window or form

To opt-out of the sale and sharing of your personal information, click on the link or use the toggle provided by the business and follow the directions. Doing this on every website you visit can feel burdensome, but to ease the burden you can automatically select your privacy preferences for every website by using an opt-out preference signal, or OOPS for short.

An OOPS is a user-friendly and straightforward way for consumers to automatically exercise their right to opt-out of the sale and sharing of their personal information with the businesses they interact with online. An OOPS, such as the Global Privacy Control. It can either be a setting on your internet browser or a browser extension. With an OOPS, consumers do not have to submit individual requests to opt-out of sale or sharing with each business.

Right to Limit

Californians also have the right to direct businesses to limit the use and disclosure of their sensitive personal information.

Businesses covered under the CCPA must provide a link on their website that allows you to request the limiting of your SPI, if they plan on using it in certain ways. That link will also typically be at the bottom of a webpage and will say: “limit the use of my sensitive personal information” or “your privacy choices.” Once you send this request, the business must stop using your SPI for anything other than to:

  • Provide requested goods or services
  • Ensure security and integrity
  • Prevent fraud
  • Maintain system functionality
  • Comply with legal obligations

Bringing it Together

In summary, the CCPA gives you the right to opt-out of the sale and sharing of your personal information and gives you additional rights to further limit the use and disclosure of your sensitive personal information.

When you exercise these rights together, you exert greater control in protecting your personal data which is important for your identity, safety, and financial health.

If you are on a business’s website and you can’t find the links to exercise your rights, remember to check their privacy policy. The privacy policy should tell you how you can exercise your rights under the law.

If you find your rights being violated, you can submit a complaint to CalPrivacy.

Next in the LOCKED series, we will explore the right to correct and right to know. Follow us on social media to get live updates or check back in one week for the next post.

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