McDonald's has been one of the few places people could rely on this past year.
While many businesses have been forced to stay closed throughout lockdown, McDonald's has managed to adapt to keep its fans with a ready supply of fries, burgers, and breakfasts.
Since its restaurants reopened in May, the fast food chain has introduced a string of safety measures so that it can continue to operate.
Huge queues formed outside its Drive-Thrus when it welcomed back customers after the first national lockdown, who were willing to wait over an hour to get their hands on their favourite items again.
However the menu has been limited throughout this period. Many items have been reinstated over the last few months, but there are still four items that remain off the menu.
Here, we ask why that is.
During this third national lockdown, government guidance states that hospitality venues must stay closed except for takeaway deliveries and click-and-collect services.
This means that McDonald's customers can no longer dine inside the restaurants, or walk-in to takeaway.
Services that can continue to operate are the Drive-Thru, Click & Serve for Drive-Thru, and McDelivery.
McDonald's say that this latest lockdown change hasn't impacted the menu, but they're still operating a reduced menu due to the safety of their staff in the kitchens amid coronavirus.
Still unavailable to order are Bagels, the Breakfast Wrap, Snack Wrap, and Grilled Chicken.
A spokesperson said: "When we began reopening our restaurants in May last year, we did so with a reduced menu to facilitate the safety measures that were introduced in our kitchens and service areas.
"While we’ve gradually reintroduced more menu items in subsequent months, safety remains our number one priority, meaning a small number of products are yet to return.”
Since lockdown, they've implemented protective screens in the kitchen and service areas and smaller teams are working in the kitchens to enable social distancing.
Other measures include face coverings and daily temperature checks for all employees; hand and bag sanitising stations and face coverings for our McDelivery® partner couriers; contact-free ordering and payment available via the My McDonald’s app; and enhanced cleaning of all surfaces and touchpoints.
You can check out what's available at McDonald's here.
