Diving certificate:

• Chick-fil-A will open an elevated drive-thru with a food conveyor belt in the Atlanta area on Thursday. according to a press release.
• The chicken chain says its elevated drive-thru can serve two to three times as many cars as its regular locations. The location does not have a dining room.
• The unit is Chick-fil-A’s second test of an experimental concept this year, following the opening of its Test unit for mobile orders in New York City.

Diving insight:

Chick-fil-A came up with the idea Increased drive-thru in 2023 as part of an effort to combine hospitality-based brand identity with technological changes in restaurants.

If the elevated drive-thru is built at multiple stores, it could help the company speed up drive-thru times and maintain its gigantic volumes—about 60% of orders come through the drive-thru. According to a study by Intouch Insight, Chick-fil-A has one of the fastest drive-thru times when compared to the number of cars in the drive-through.

The design consists of a large kitchen – twice the size of regular restaurant kitchens – that sits across four drive-thru lanes. The kitchen distributes food to employees in the drive-thru via a conveyor belt system that the company says can deliver one meal every six seconds through each of the drive-thru lanes. This means that the conveyor belt system could theoretically deliver a maximum of 40 meals per minute, or 2,400 meals per hour, across four drive-thru lanes.

The company said this focus on technology and throughput would not impact hospitality, as employees will continue to take orders and pass them to customers. Customers can order ahead using Chick-fil-A’s app and pick up items at dedicated checkout lanes, or they can place their order with an employee at the drive-thru.

According to the press release, the franchisee will employ approximately 150 full-time and part-time workers at this location. A standalone Chick-fil-A typically employs 80 to 120 people, the company said in an email to Restaurant Dive.

Chick-fil-A was also Expansion of mobile pickup lanes across its entire system. The chain has expanded the technology to over 300 units in the last year. It also uses Geofencing to reduce waiting times. Dedicated mobile pickup lanes are an increasingly important touchpoint for some brands. Chipotle, for example, is Construction of more and more chipotlaneswhich drives up the number of units.