Will fast food brands be stripped of their reusable tableware? Starting January 1, McDonald’s, Burger King and other KFCs are required by law to offer hard, non-disposable packaging for their sandwiches, fries and drinks. No more sodas in paper cups and fries in paper cones. Give way to plastic or glass containers that must be collected, washed and made available to customers who take their meals on site.
Crockery that the client must return once his food has been consumed. But for some the temptation to take home a souvenir is strong.
In fact, the tableware offered in fast food since January 1 is marked with the logo of the brands. Enough to encourage amateur collectors of the brands.
For McDonald’s, the investment – between new packaging and cleaning devices – represented an endowment of around 100 million euros. With a turnover of 5,500 million euros in 2021, McDonald’s restaurants are not in danger. But the goal of reusable tableware was to limit the environmental impact of the packaging. If fast food restaurants are forced to replenish their stock regularly, the measure could have very limited effect.
Geolocated dishes?
Whether these thefts are massive remains to be seen.
In some restaurants, the signs even threaten customers by making them believe that the packaging can be geolocated using QR codes. Which is not the case. The QR codes that are present on the containers are used to scan the dishes to measure the stock and place an order if necessary.
If the contacted brands do not have an estimate of the importance of the phenomenon, the professionals who supply tableware to fast food restaurants put the magnitude into perspective.
Restaurants frequented by young people or close to tourist attractions would be the most affected. This legal obligation being a world first, foreigners would be surprised to discover their utensils in French fast food restaurants.
Once the novelty effect has worn off, the disappearances tend to decrease. This was verified by Burger King, which introduced these new containers in certain restaurants last year.
If thefts and disappearances were to remain at a high level, brands would consider installing lockers like at many sporting events or concerts. To which the restaurant chains have so far refused so as not to slow down the service.
Source: BFM TV
