I can’t speak for McDonalds I don’t go there. Can’t recall any of the chains closing for worker shortages or anything, but the mom and pop shops definitely did have worker shortages, I know some of the workers personally and they took jobs for more money in other industries. I’m pretty sure McDonalds paid more than these places during covid. I haven’t seen any signs in well over a year so I’d agree that there is no shortage anymore. I can confirm that several grocery stores were hiring people between 2020 and 2022. A lot of older people retired early or left public facing jobs.
I’m not denying that some businesses choose not to hire people on purpose, I’m sure that happened too. But I’d argue that Business owners doing that are also probably terrible to work for and people probably end up quiting.