Chick-Fil-A is taking efficiency to the next level with its two new restaurant design concepts that it will be testing out in 2024.
The first is a space-efficient drive-thru pilot, which will open in Chick-Fil-A's hometown of Atlanta. Customers will place their orders and then drive under the kitchen, where their food will travel down to a smiling team member on the ground floor who will deliver the food to the customer's car.
(An added bonus is that employees at this store won't have to wear one of those silly ponchos, since the drive-thru is fully covered by the kitchen.)
The second concept will open in New York City, and it's the most New York Chick-Fil-A you could imagine. The store is a grab-n-go concept, and the design is very minimalist, to say the least.
The minimalist store will include no points-of-sale, no drink towers, and (apparently) no tables. At this store, customers will have to order on their mobile app. Once they arrive all they have to do is pick up their food from the red-shirted teenager behind the sleek table top before reemerging onto the bustling streets of New York.
But with a little more pep in their step.
Chick-Fil-A's executive director of restaurant design, Khalilah Cooper, said in a press release,
Understanding this desire for convenience, the locations for these tests were intentionally selected with the customers in mind, giving them more control over their desired experience and cutting down wait-time, while continuing to provide genuine hospitality and care to every guest.
He also noted that some Chick-Fil-A locations already get about 50% of their orders through the mobile app, so both of the new design concepts are meant to cater to customers' desire for convenience, without totally cutting out human interaction.
Time will tell if the futuristic Chick-Fil-A takeoff in their test cities (other fast-food restaurants are following this trend), but knowing the incredible speed with which the company operates, by the year 2025 they'll probably do away with stores altogether and just deliver food straight to your home via Wonkavision.
