Chain leaders share lessons learned

Location and logistics remain top considerations for a seamless off-premises experience. 

Recently, I was invited to a gathering of chain restaurant operators and the support centers of said chains.

Correct placement and proper organization represent critical success factors for these spaces. 

Packaging considerations gain more headspace today as off-premises solutions dominate discussions.

Keeping takeout and delivery customers happy is even more important than it once was.

Looking back on the past couple of years, it seems a growing number of restaurants outside of the quick-service space, namely fast-casual and full-service operations, continue to add drive-thru service to their offerings.

Smokey Bones opened its first all-digital drive-thru lane at one of its fast-casual restaurants in Bowling Green, Ky.

Panera Bread opened its first unit dedicated solely to off-premises customers. Known as Panera To Go, this digital-only location features a reduced front of the house with no seating; guests and delivery drivers can pick up orders from dedicated shelves. 

The barbecue stalwart doubles down on its commitment to off-premises with the opening of its first drive-thru location.

Wow Bao, an Asian fast-casual brand created in 2003 by Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, has, over nearly two decades, done things differently.

Many restaurant operators opt to include cocktails-to-go as part of their permanent offering. 

P.F. Chang’s opened its second to go location in Jacksonville, Fla. This marks the 11th P.F. Chang’s To Go location systemwide.

Despite all the advances in off-premises options like delivery, full-service restaurants remain a great place for people to have a good time and enjoy great food together and for that reason this dining option continues to hold a special place in society.

Since the pandemic, takeout orders have been skyrocketing in the restaurant industry. This includes not just quick-service operations but also fast casual and even fine dining. And, of late a growing number of noncommercial operators, like healthcare, college and even corporate foodservice, allow customers to order ahead and pick up their food.

Road-tested strategies for last-mile success.

New realities have shifted space allocation strategies.

Restaurants and foodservice accounts continue to sit up and take notice what customers want from their food packaging. Over the past 18 months, with more takeout and to-go orders than ever, materials that keep food hot (or cold) and retain its quality and integrity have been increasingly in demand.

Piggybacking on the success of meal kits delivered to homes, many restaurants added meal kit variations to carryout menus as a revenue driver in the last 18 to 24 months.

How is the industry faring in 2021? And, what’s in store for 2022?

Speed of service at the drive-thru declined over the past year, according to several published reports.

Over the years, drive-thru as a sales channel has been the cornerstone of many successful quick-service restaurants. During the pandemic, though, the importance of drive-thru sales became even more important when this form of service became one of the only ways customers could get food from restaurants. While all of this may seem alluring to some, never lose sight of the simple fact that a poorly designed and poorly run drive-thru will impact a restaurant’s ability to generate revenue.

With the fall semester in sight, college and university foodservice operators find themselves evaluating what worked and what didn’t during the previous academic year as they prepare for the new school year. While they hope for more normal foodservice programs, many changes from the past year may remain.

From rethinking kitchen design components to equipping for off-premises dining, designers look to accommodate demands.

As hard as it may be to imagine, the dark cloud of the pandemic did produce some silver linings for the foodservice industry. Two that come to mind immediately are the off-premises boom and customers’ willingness to use digital means to remotely interact with restaurants. While those trends were already in motion pre-pandemic, the pandemic accelerated them exponentially, generating faster growth than would have been the case under a more normal business cycle.

Many feel the world has almost made it through the rocky pandemic period and can see the outlines of a once dimly glimpsed future becoming clearer. It’s been a wild ride for the restaurant industry. The rise in off-premises dining, the growth of third-party delivery services, the proliferation of ghost kitchens and the explosion of mobile ordering represent long-standing trends that went into overdrive as restaurants strove to survive.

“When everything returns to normal” is a phrase we hear a lot these days. But “normal” continues to become the “new normal” as restaurants and foodservice operations adapt, change and modernize to meet both the old normal demands and the new ones created during the pandemic.

Life was easier for restaurants when guests had fewer choices. Going back several decades, the only decision we had to worry about was to determine whether the food was for here or to go. The first big change happened when drive-thrus came about for quick-service restaurants.

Salad-centric fast-casual chain sweetgreen will further its focus on technology-enabled processes when it opens its first “sweetlane” concept. Planned to open within the next year in Schaumburg, Ill, the pilot restaurant will push digital ordering to the forefront with a drive-thru lane designed to increase convenience for digital customers.