Catering to Consumer Needs and Making Changes
Recently, the fast food chain McDonald’s in the UK, admitted that it had been struggling to keep all of the products available on its menu for consumers, and has slowly been forced to pull some of those items from the menu. The reason why the company has been pulling some of the menu, specifically, some of the drinks, is because of issues with the supply chain.
The company is just one of the many across the UK that have been facing issues because of the supply chain disruptions in recent months, which have affected England, Wales, and Scotland.
Bottled drinks, as well as milkshakes, have been pulled from a number of the 1,300 restaurants across the country, because of the shortage of truck drivers. Aside from McDonald’s locations, a number of other restaurants, supermarkets, and other retailers have been struck by the crisis.
According to some estimates, the country currently needs around 100,000 truck drivers, an issue that has been triggered by the pandemic, as well as the latest Brexit immigration regulations. After the issue appeared, the fast food chain released a statement saying that all of the milkshakes and bottled drinks would become temporarily unavailable across all locations around the country.
The company also apologized to its customers for the inconvenience and thanked them for their patience while McDonald’s figured out a way to return all the drinks on its menu as soon as possible.
Aside from McDonald’s facing supply chain issues, the shortages also had an effect on another UK restaurant chain — Nando’s. That chain ended up temporarily closing about 50 locations after it went through supply chain issues, while also releasing a statement saying that some of the staff would be lent to the suppliers, to help speed things along.
A number of other industries have been facing worker shortages too, as combining the Brexit immigration regulations and the pandemic have made many people look elsewhere for jobs and a stable income.
This is an issue that’s not specific to the UK, however, as the USA has also been facing a labor shortage and numerous disruptions.
More specifically, in the US, a number of fast food chain restaurant locations have had to close down, after workers started quitting or refusing to come into work unless they saw an increase in their hourly wages. In fact, many restaurant employees also staged a walkout during the summer months in the US, in protest of the low wages, asking that their employers increase them.
Aside from an increase in wages, workers also demanded better working conditions in the workplace, and a number of employees also demanded a permanent shift to remote work. A vast number of industries have been seeing similar demands from their employees, and they’ve started challenging the notion that they shouldn’t have an input into their working conditions.
While businesses are still looking to find ways to adapt to the current situation, the current demands from workers around the country will end up turning the companies that cater to those needs incredibly popular and efficient.
