Operators Design Takeout Modifications to Meet Consumer Demands Drive-thru, pickup windows provide solutions for off-premise dining during the pandemic and beyond Restaurant operators across segments are designing stores for the future based on consumer demand for multiple options for off-premise dining, from drive-thru to takeout. Chains and independents alike are incorporating pickup windows and adding drive-thru lanes, including lanes dedicated to orders placed on mobile apps. Chain operators are also designing stores that can be tailored to meet the demands of consumers at individual locations, including some that have no indoor seating at all. Several of the largest quick-service and fast-casual companies have unveiled new prototypes in recent months that encourage digital ordering and customer pickup, and the trend has even extended into the casual-dining space. Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill + Bar recently unveiled plans for its first drive-thru lane, which is being added to a franchised restaurant in Texarkana, Texas.
“Off-premise demand has been increasing for over a decade, with significant acceleration in the past nine months, and we anticipate continued growth in the channel,” Scott Gladstone, vice president of strategy and development at Applebee’s, told Nation’s Restaurant News. He said the local Applebee’s operator, Apple Arkansas, had identified the market as having strong potential for off-premise dining, given the trends it had been seeing in its operating area. Likewise, other operators are preparing to respond with different store designs based on the consumer needs in each market and the variables of each individual location. Louisville, Ky.-based KFC, for example, in November unveiled two next-generation prototype stores that could each serve different types of locations. One format would have no dining room, while the other would have a small dining room and an outdoor seating area, along with more options for contactless pickup of
