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Burger King chief executive Alasdair Murdoch has said that the fast food chain will not be paying rent due on its UK restaurants this week.
Hundreds of High Street businesses are set to withhold their quarterly rent payments, which are due on Wednesday, so they can afford to pay their staff.
Mr Murdoch told the Today programme: “We are not intending to pay our rent.
“Most landlords have been reasonable about this. I do think there are a number of creative solutions as well.”
He added: “We could add three months on to the end of the lease for those people who are unable to pay in the short-term at the end of these three months.”
Restaurants are still allowed to offer a takeaway or delivery service, but Mr Murdoch added: “We took the decision last night [Monday], after what the prime minister said, to close all of our UK restaurants.
“If there are any trailing on, they will all be closed this morning, but we closed 500 last night.”
Richard Hodgson, chief executive of Yo! Sushi, told the Financial Times that non-payment of rent was “not really a choice. It’s just a basic piece of economics”.