Several Chick-fil-A franchises have scaled back their services amid "a hiring crisis" sparked by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
While the popular fast food outlet managed to maintain its restaurants across the country, numerous franchises have reported facing issues around staffing.
It has forced several locations to close dining rooms and stop its curbside ordering option in order to avoid remaining staff from becoming burnt out from handling more operations than numbers can handle effectively.
Several franchises across the U.S. shared statements on social media explaining the reasons behind the choice to scale back services at a number of branches.
In a Facebook post that was shared on Sunday, the Madison, Alabama, branch operator Norman Dull said: "We, along with many businesses, are in the middle of a hiring crisis. We are doing everything we can to hire more team members. We are seeing far less job applicants or people not showing up for their interviews. The restaurant industry has suffered from a hiring perspective during the pandemic, and unfortunately, Chick-fil-A is not immune to this labor shortage."
Dull's statement continued: "Unfortunately, because of this issue, we are having to temporarily close our dining room, turn off our mobile curbside ordering option, as well as mobile carryout option. This was done to help reduce the stress on the team members we currently have but also to be able to still provide you with the Chick-fil-A experience you expect, just through a limited venue."
On Facebook, Newsweek found similar statements shared by branches in McCalla, Alabama, Elizabethtown, Kentucky, San Antonio, Texas as well as many others, all of which had been shared over the past few weeks.
Newsweek has contacted Chick-fil-A for comment.
Staffing issues have hit multiple fast food giants during the pandemic with several resorting to unorthodox means in order to get positions filled.
In April, a McDonald's restaurant offered job applicants $50 if they just turned up for an interview.
The franchise owner, Blake Casper, who owned 60 McDonald's restaurants in the Tampa, Florida area, told Business Insider a general manager gave him the idea for the interview after telling them to "do whatever you need to do" to hire workers.
He also said he was considering raising starting wages to attract more employees. At the time, the rate was $12 an hour, $3 above Florida's minimum wage, Casper said he was planning on increasing the wage to $13.
