QSR May 2022

DIGI TAL TRENDS

speed and ease of use and that includes the arrival experience. Delivering that level of convenience will win brand loyalty.” To put it plainly, consumers still favor many of the pandemic’s dining pivots. They want to balance prior habits, like dine-in, with occasions picked up over the past two plus years. And this drives the convenience bar higher. DRIVING A MOBILE FUTURE At the drive-thru, gains feel permanent, per Bluedot data. In February 2022, and Sep tember, May, and February of the previous year, the percentage of consumers who vis ited a drive-thru in the last month was at, or just under, 90 percent. Amonth after COVID hit? The figure was 79 percent. Visitation has remained consistently 10 points higher than those early, strange pandemic days. It isn’t news to quick-serves. Drive-thru lines haven’t blurred segment-wide; they essentially no longer exist. By mid-February, Shake Shack had three (Maple Grove, Min nesota; Lee’s Summit, Missouri; and Livonia, Michigan) with more on deck for Vineland Pointe in Orlando, and Castle Rock, Colo rado. It expects 10 up and running by 2023, while 25 percent of its entire corporate f leet of openings this year will include either a “Shack

Track” walk-up or drive-up window. Chipo tle’s 3,000 th location—opened February in Phoenix—featured the brand’s digital order drive-thru pickup lane, or “Chipotlane.” In 2021, the fast casual debuted 215 units and 80 percent included one. The same mix will comprise the 235–250 restaurants expected this calendar year. Even Applebee’s, which launched a drive thru pickup window in Texarkana, Arkansas, brought its third to market recently—a reac tion to the fact sales outside the four walls accounted for 26.7 percent of the business in Q4. Average off-premises weekly sales were $13,800, more than double pre-pandemic. Texas Roadhouse is building them, too. As is barbecue chain Smokey Bones, which designed a full-tilt, digital-enabled drive-thru at a Bowling Green, Kentucky, location. The setup includes the chain’s virtual brands and a dedicated space inside the restaurant, com plete with point of sale and audio headsets. Without question, drive-thru competition has taken off. InMarch, Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors arranged the sale of a new construction, single-tenant Habit Burger. Complete with a drive-thru, the site at Cali fornia’s Monterey Crossing shopping center sold for $4.57 million, which the company said was a record-low cap rate nationwide

CHANG I NG HAB I T S : WH E N A S K E D WHAT WA S T H E MO S T I MP ROV E D A S P EC T O F T H E FA S T - FOOD E X P E R I E NC E S I NC E COV I D 5 8 % P I CK E D MOB I L E APP ORD E R I NG • 6 0 % I NC R E A S E D U S AG E O F S E L F - S E RV I C E ORD E R I NG OP T I ON S I N T H E P R E V I OU S S I X MON T H S • MOB I L E OR D E R I NG 4 8 % • WE B OR D E R I NG 2 2 % • K I OS KS I N S I D E T H E S TOR E 14 %

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MAY 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com