US fastfood giant Burger King has said two of its franchised restaurants in the area hit by hurricane Katrina two weeks ago have reopened.
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Other Burger King restaurants in the area will reopen at the rate of about one per day.
“Due to an extraordinary team effort and good fortune, a Burger King restaurant was the first national quick service restaurant to open in metro New Orleans,” said Rich Wyckoff, Burger King’s division vice president of the region that includes the Gulf Coast.
The two restaurants – in Westwego and Harvey, Louisiana – were in some of the locations hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. Both are providing a limited menu that includes Whopper sandwiches and other burgers, as well as French fries and beverages.
“We’re grateful that we’ve been able to begin serving guests again,” said Jerry Comstock, chief executive officer of Strategic Restaurants, owner and operator of the restaurants. “Our challenge in both of these restaurants – as well as the 20 others we expect to open in the next few weeks – is limited staffing. We are seeing significantly lower numbers of employees returning to work than we had hoped.”
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By GlobalDataAround 200 restaurant-level positions are currently available in the area.
