Spiking Demand for McDonald's BTS Meal Ends with Fine on Opening Day

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Ahmad Riza Patria, Jakarta Deputy Governor, on Wednesday said there are a number of McDonald’s outlets in the capital city that have been handed fines and temporary closure due to causing unsafe amount of crowds and violating pandemic healthcare restrictions sparked by the surge of demand on the fast food chain’s ‘BTS meal’ promo. 

The administrative fines imposed, he said, aligns with the regional regulation on pandemic crowd restriction of Rp50 million. However, the Jakarta deputy did not elaborate whether the amounts are individual outlet fines or as a whole. 

“The fine is as usual, Rp50 million,” said Patria at city hall on June 9.

McDonald’s outlets that were temporarily closed are those located at Gambir, Cideng, Kramat Raya, Raden Saleh, Menteng and a few more in East Jakarta. The temporary closure will affect outlets for a whole 24 hours. 

The American fast food chain announced two days ago that it would offer its latest menu touted ‘BTS Meal’ in collaboration with the prominent South Korean boyband Bangtan Boys or BTS starting on its opening day on June 9. 

In order to comply with pandemic crowd restriction regulations, McDonald’s had actually only permitted purchases through online ride hailing food delivery services, in-house deliveries, and drive through orders. However, the massive amount of demands on its opening day caused a huddle of online delivery service workers to pack many outlets in Jakarta that offered the ‘BTS Meal.’

Associate Director of Communication McDonald's Indonesia, Sutji Lantyka, voiced appreciation towards the high enthusiasm for the unique partnership with BTS but confirmed it had closed a number of outlets over consumer’s safety.

Read More: Police to Summon McDonald's Management over BTS Meal Crowds

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