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White Castle's pandemic response shows QSR strains amid dine-in closings

With five states closing in-restaurant dining, we talk to one QSR affected by the closures in response to the pandemic and how it's affecting operations for Ohio-based White Castle.

Even as it switched to off-premise only in three states, White Castle has stepped up each restaurant area's sanitation at two-hour intervals.

March 16, 2020 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

With five states — California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Ohio and Washington — mandating that restaurants and bars shutter dine-in services to stop the spread of the coronavirus, brands are struggling to cope with the economical fallout caused by the social distancing. 
 

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, for example, ordered that all 22,000 foodservice outlets statewide to begin operating as drive-thru, carryout, curbside pickup and delivery only, which he said was intended to prevent groups from congregating and possibly spreading the illness. In fact, the state has also banned gatherings of more than 100 people from taking place. 

Columbus-based White Castle Vice President Jamie Richardson said that the brand had not seen a steep drop-off in business at its stores until the end of last week.

"Just a week ago, we were seeing little effect (on business from the coronavirus), but then toward the end of last week, as more guidance came out, we did see some declines in restaurant business," Richardson said in an interview with QSRWeb. "But our brand is unique in that we offer consumer packaged goods too … and that business has been really, really strong … though the rest of business … was down significantly as more people weren't going out."

With the new mandates restricting dine-in customers, Richardson said White Castle has stepped up its cleaning regimen in stores to support off-premise business, increasing sanitation schedules for every part of each restaurant's operation. 

"We've programmed all internal monitors (in stores) to remind teams to do cleaning procedures every two hours … so every two hours the shift manager knows to clean the grill area, then at … 10 minutes after that every two hours, they are reminded to clean the dining room," Richardson said.

Considering the current business situation for foodservice has been changing hourly, White Castle has also put an emphasis on constantly communicating with employees through the team app. 

Paid time off keeps sick employees from working
The chain, which has nearly 400 units, is also unusual in the QSR sector in that it provides employees at all levels with 14 days paid time off, so Richardson said he did not anticipate the problems many had feared for the sector of employees coming to work sick.

But scheduling is changing for team members on that aforementioned near-hourly schedule to reflect needs for personnel in new roles, although he said none of White Castle's team members have yet reported contracting the virus. He would not speculate, however, on the possibility of any workforce layoffs. 

"It's too early to say," he said. "We recognize this situation ins unprecedented and its suddenness, too … so to speculate on the workforce would be very premature. … This is something we treat with a great degree of reverence. Obviously it's threatening which is not good … but we're taking the long view and don't want to over-react." 

USA Today reported that Ohio Governor DeWine also acknowledged the difficulties foodservice constraints were placing on many in the state who work in the industry, when he tweeted, "I'm aware that this will impact many, many good workers. I can't tell you how sorry I am, but we will work to mitigate the suffering. It is our goal for everyone to get through this." 

I'm aware that this will impact many, many good workers. I can't tell you how sorry I am, but we will work to mitigate the suffering. It is our goal for everyone to get through this. #COVID19 #COVID19OhioReady

— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) March 15, 2020

Wendy's, also based in Ohio, has not responded to requests for information from this webiste about its COVID-19-related actions and business effects, but as time progresses more QSRs are adopting new policies about their operations in response. For instance, Taco Bell, CEO Mark King said in a statement that the brand was gearing up for U.S. dining rooms to shift to all of its operations being conducted through drive-thru windows or deliveries.

Vice President Mike Pence is expected to announce an update Monday of federal guidelines on whether restaurants, bars, and businesses should remain open in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Editor's note: Read other QSRweb coronavirus-related coverage here. 

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.