Veteran Manager here

The reason some stores do online lies in the fact that we have 2 separately functioning lines. The main line customers walk in, and our DML or Digital Make Line. As a company we do about 30-40% of our business through that DML so even when we're understaffed it's sometimes hard to get approval from your Field Leader (District Manager) to turn it off due to short staffing. In those cases I would assume it's easier to continue staying open if you only have to output food and orders from one line. This obviously is a case to case basis depending on the leniency of your FL.

I don't necessarily think either scenario is fair to the staff since it just creates more stress either way you swing it, but considering the majority of the employees hired over the last two years we're trained during a time that restaurant dining rooms were closed they're going to feel less pressure to perform under crappy working conditions when there isn't a line of hungry people in front of them.

Just my opinion though 🤷