KFC re-closes dining rooms in Florida due to rising COVID-19 cases, advising franchisees to do the same in new hot spots across America

"We have advised our franchise locations in the hot spot states of Florida, Texas, Arizona and California that have reopened to consider closing dining rooms for dine-in seating at this time," said a KFC representative.
McDonald's recently paused reopening plans due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.
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KFC is closing dining rooms and advising franchisees to do the same as COVID-19 cases surge in Florida and other states.

The chicken chain confirmed to Business Insider that it had closed dining rooms in its 40 corporate-owned restaurants in Florida, and that it is advising franchisees to do the same. KFC's decision was first reported by Reuters.

"We have advised our franchise locations in the hot spot states of Florida, Texas, Arizona and California that have reopened to consider closing dining rooms for dine-in seating at this time," a representative said in a statement to Business Insider.

KFC locations will remain open for drive-thru and delivery, as well as carry-out where available, the representative said. Only 5% of KFC location in the US have opened dine-in seating.

A Yum Brands representative did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment on if sister brands Pizza Hut and Taco Bell were similarly encouraging franchisees to shutter dining rooms in hot spots.

On July 1, McDonald's announced it was pausing its reopening plan for 21 days due to COVID-19 cases rising across the US. As a result, no new McDonald's dining rooms have reopened in July and leadership encouraged franchisees to review state guidance that may require returning to a to-go only model.

"COVID-19 cases are on the rise with a 65 percent increase in infections over the last two weeks," read a letter from Joe Erlinger, McDonald's US president, and Mark Salebra, the head of the National Franchisee Leadership Alliance. "In the last seven days, 32 states saw increasing cases and this number appears to be growing."

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