We’ll admit it: We get excited when chain restaurants unveil prototypes for restaurant designs. It’s not just about the new colors, fresh décor, and lighting; it’s a chance to glimpse companies’ predictions for how restaurant operations will evolve.
Here’s a look at the trends we’re seeing in the latest quick-service restaurant designs.
Multiple, automated drive-thru lanes
“Can I take your order, please?” That familiar question might come from an automated voice-ordering system at Checkers, which is the first U.S. restaurant to roll out this new tech nationwide. “The innovation, which recognizes accents and colloquialisms, showed order accuracy of 98 percent and higher without much employee intervention during tests, far exceeding the original goal of 95 percent,” QSR magazine reports.
Checkers Drive-In Restaurants has always been a drive-thru pioneer — it’s right there in the name. Checkers was offering double drive-thru lanes (without a dine-in option) long before other quick-service restaurants followed suit. In 2021, the chain (which operates both the Checkers and Rally’s brands) took the next step, launching an updated look that dedicates one drive-thru lane to digital orders.
Checkers isn’t alone. Shake Shack has begun to build its first locations with drive-thru lanes — as many as three, in some places. Now, Taco Bell is one-upping everyone with the new Defy restaurant prototype, which has four drive-thru lanes that pass under an elevated kitchen.
This two-story design allows Taco Bell to serve more customers in a footprint that’s equal to or smaller than traditional locations. Three lanes are dedicated to mobile or delivery order pickups, while a fourth offers standard drive-thru service. Mobile-order customers scan the QR code associated with their order, then their food is delivered via a special lift system.
Close the door to in-person dining… or make it more inviting?
The mega-investment in drive-through lanes means that many chains are entirely eliminating inside seating. Others, however, are polishing the dining experience.
Panera’s next-generation prototype, launched in late 2021, is both cozy and contactless. Panera is moving its ovens and shifting its baking times from night to day, so guests can watch pastries, bagels, and breads being made. It’s bringing back a version of the classic “Mother Bread” logo and emphasizing the iconic fireplace. “We believe we are the opposite of soulless eating,” Eduardo Luz, Panera Bread’s chief brand and concept officer, told Restaurant Business Online.
For customers who don’t want to linger or interact with people, Panera is offering a fully contactless experience: ordering from mobile phones for dine-in, with mobile notifications when their food is ready.
Optimizing off-premises ordering
Chicken-wing chain Wingstop proved to be a pandemic-era powerhouse, seeing profits soar from takeout-hungry customers. Now, Wingstop is committing to off-premises dining in its new restaurant prototype: a fully cashless restaurant with no dining tables. Customers order ahead or via QR code at the counter.
Kentucky Fried Chicken recently unveiled its next-gen prototype, which marries nostalgic designs and lighting with a strong focus on off-premises ordering. Signage is key to frictionless service; a huge, brightly lit arrow leads customers to the entrance for online order pickup.
Offering customers every possible option
Ordering ahead. Ordering right now. Eating inside. Eating outside. Driving through. Walking up. There are so many ways for people to eat… and Del Taco’s Fresh Flex prototype tries to accommodate them all.
The new store designs include food pick-up lockers with QR code capabilities, double drive-thru lanes with lanes for mobile orders and third-party delivery drivers, shaded parking for customers who want to eat in their cars, and dedicated parking for mobile pickup and delivery drivers. It’s flexible for franchisees, too, who can choose from a menu of store layouts from 1,200 to 2,400 square feet.
Smaller, swifter kitchens
With any new restaurant prototype, spiffing up the customer experience is only half the goal. The other half is improving the kitchen layout.
The common thread in most new kitchens is doing more with less: fewer employees and less space. El Pollo Loco’s smaller prototype relies on equipment that can be moved around, so an operator can begin with just one modular burrito station and then add more as needed. Wingstop’s new store model is just 1,300 square feet, nearly 400 square feet less than the average footprint. Kitchen equipment on wheels allows Wingstop to test the efficiency of different configurations.
Returning to Checkers, its “Fit Kitchen” prototype was designed to reduce unnecessary motion:
“The new format eliminates about a mile and a half of unnecessary walking per hour collectively, replaces flattops with clamshell grills to boost quality and consistency, and features holding equipment that keeps products hotter for longer, fry stations and grill positions with better capacity, and removes final cooking processes from most fried products.”
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