Fast Food Chains Shrink Dine-In Footprints

Fast food chains are reducing their footprints for in-person dining to focus on processing off-premises orders, anticipating that consumer preferences for drive-thru, takeout and third-party delivery will remain strong after the pandemic wanes.

An example of the new format is a 2,500 SF prototype of a smaller Hardee’s restaurant that recently debuted in Nashville. The unit has 22 interior seats, a 25% reduction of Hardee’s traditional configuration.

Hardee’s design plans for future restaurants include multiple drive-through lanes and a walk-up window devoted to third-party delivery, according to a recent report in QSR, a magazine that tracks the fast-food industry. 

QSR says quick-service brands across the US are moving to reduce footprints and limit dine-in options to focus on consumer preferences for drive-thru, takeout or third-party delivery. As new designs reduce or eliminate dine-in space, the number of drive thru-only stores and franchises with triple-lane drive thrus is increasing.

New models with smaller-footprint facilities that focus on off-premise orders also are being embraced by traditional full-service restaurants, including TGI Fridays, IHOP and Buffalo Wild Wings, QSR reported.

TGI Fridays recently introduced its “Fridays on the Fly” prototype, a 2,500 SF outlet with limited indoor dining and a focus on takeout and delivery orders.

According to TD Bank’s most recent Restaurant Franchise Pulse Survey, 55% of respondents said they planned to service more pickup orders and 45% said they would expand drive-thru lanes.

Several of the largest fast food chains, including McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell and KFC, are preparing to introduce mobile-order pickup drive-thru lanes, following the example set by Chipotle. Chipotle, which calls mobile-order drive-thrus “Chipotlanes,” says the lanes now contribute an average of $1M in digital sales to each of its franchises.

Taco Bell recently introduced a prototype that features four mobile-order pickup lanes that let vehicles drive under the restaurant to speed order pickups.

Chains that currently feature smaller dine-in footprints also are looking at new models that are designed entirely for off-premises traffic, QSR reported.

Original outlets at Chick’nCone, a Florida-based startup that serves fried chicken in waffle cones, are 1,200 SF, featuring about two dozen seats and a “waffle theater” exhibition kitchen.

After a 300-percent increase in online and takeout ordering during the pandemic, Chick’nCone has started experimenting with a prototype—built out of a 360 SF shipping container—that exclusively will service walk-up and drive-thru customers.

Several franchise owners told QSR they’ve discovered that they can lower their operating costs without sacrificing revenue by switching to a smaller format that reduces or eliminates dine-in space.