Coronavirus: Thousands rush for their last McDonald's fix before lock down

Wednesday, 25 March 2020

Aucklanders flock to their local McDonald's.

As New Zealand's takeaways get ready to close for the four-week coronavirus lock down, thousands of people around the country have been rushing for their last supper.

At the 24/7 McDonald's restaurant in New Plymouth – one of the busiest branches in New Zealand – business had been 'non-stop', franchisee Lauren McAuslin said, hours ahead of the Wednesday night shutdown.

McAuslin said about 5000 people had come through in three days and it was almost 'testament' to what customers realised they'd miss once the lockdown came into force at 11.59pm

'They want their last supper,' McAuslin, the youngest McDonald's franchisee in New Zealand, said.

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As of Wednesday, there were 205 confirmed and probable Covid-19 cases in New Zealand.

Some hungry punters were even bulk buying cheeseburgers to get them through the period.

McAuslin, who also runs the McDonald's in the district's Centre City mall, and will be in charge of a new drive-thru being built on State Highway 3 just north of New Plymouth, said people started to rush in soon after plans to move to Covid-19 alert level four were announced.

She thought it was about 4pm on Monday that people realised what level four meant.

'They were out in full force,' McAuslin said. 'We weren't staffed for the number of people that have shown up.'

The New Plymouth McDonald's restaurant rakes in about $10 million a year and is one of the top five revenue earners in Australasia.

McAuslin said Tuesday was the biggest Tuesday the branch had seen and it was 'like a busy Saturday'.

However, it hadn't come close to their busiest day on record – when the All Blacks played in New Plymouth.

At the Greenlane McDonald's in Auckland, hungry punters waited for as long as 30 minutes or more for their lunches.

And it was a similar story in Ponsonby, where queues backed all the way out back onto Great North Rd.

Some people even went as far as to bulk buy cheeseburgers and freeze them, to get through the lock down period.

One Aucklander said he felt an 'obligation to the family' for one last run to the local eatery.

'Four weeks is a long time, even longer without nuggets,' he said.

'I've come to buy lunch and maybe a bit of dinner for the family. One last Macca's feed for a while.'

A national spokesperson for the takeaway giant said there had been a boom in business since Monday's announcement

'With customers wanting to get a final fix, we have seen busy drive-thrus throughout the country,' the spokesperson said.

'We typically serve around 1.6 million people each week, but with the closures looming, we have definitely seen an increase in sales.'

All restaurants will be closed by 8pm Thursday, though McDonald's will leave its wifi running, so while practicing self isolation, people could park outside restaurants and log into the free service.

Where possible, perishable food that could be donated is being gifted to local food banks and charities, the spokesperson said.

McAuslin, like many franchise owners, said she didn't know exactly what would be happening in the coming weeks with staff, but knew they would get some form of payment.