Starbucks now ‘to go’ only and will close its most ‘social’ sites due to coronavirus

Starbucks has joined Chick-fil-A in eliminating seating for customers and has closed some high-traffic locations in malls to deal with the spreading coronavirus.

“Starting today, we will move to a ‘to go’ model across the U.S. and Canada for at least two weeks to help prevent prolonged social gathering in our cafés,” the popular coffee chain said in a news release Sunday. “We are pausing the use of all seating, including all café and patio seating.”

Doors at most locations will remain open for take-out service and drive-thrus will operate, the release said.

However, some of the chain’s most-popular sites for social gatherings will close temporarily, officials said. This comes as the Centers for Disease control is discouraging people from gathering in groups of 50 or more.

“We are temporarily closing company-operated stores in high-social gathering locations like stores that are located inside malls or on university campuses,” the release said. “In communities such as Seattle and New York with high clusters of COVID-19 cases, we will reduce operating hours or temporarily close select stores.”

On Monday, Chick-fil-A became the first major fast food chain to go drive-thru and take-out orders only at its 2,500 restaurants in 47 states and Canada.

It’s a move some other fast food chains are pondering, with Taco Bell announcing Sunday that it was equipping restaurants to serve drive-thru and delivery only “where necessary.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 11:54 AM with the headline "Starbucks now ‘to go’ only and will close its most ‘social’ sites due to coronavirus."