QSR October 2022

DRIVE - THRU REPORT

KFC’S NEXT-GEN RESTAURANT BOASTS DOUBLE LANES THAT CAN FLEX FOR STORE NEED.

pandemic and they’re staying for the experience. And there’s more to it than convenience. Just look at Chick-fil-A. The experience in the car is as highly regarded as in-store. When asked i f they received “friendly” service at the brand, 88 percent of people in Intouch Insight Annual Drive-Thru Study’s agreed. Only 1.7 percent deemed it “not friendly.’ This is unquest ionably a dif ferentiator for Chick-f il-A and not something that’s universal in the industry. “What’s worrisome to see

in the study data, is the year-over-year decline in ‘Friendli ness’ scores back to 2019,” Livers says. “This decline is easily attributed to all the external factors facing brands over the last few years, but we were hoping to see these scores start to swing back.” However, Abercrombie says, a task ahead will be to spread that good will to other channels. Chick f il-A offers curbside and a dine-in mobile option where a customer orders at the table and has food brought up, with out having to queue in line. “We still believe in what we’ll call analog experiences,” he says. “The traditional experi ences. We don’t want to walk away from those being great experiences. We want to be able to really, for every chan nel, every experience that you have with a Chick-fil-A, we want it to be a remarkable one.” “There’s always opportunity so you can serve more guests,

but can’t do it in a way that we’re going to lose that connec tion,” Abercrombie adds.

THE BALANCE BEGINS KFC has taken a multifaceted approach as well. Currently, more than 70 percent of the Yum! Brands’ chain’s orders are at the drive-thru—a number that hiked as high as 90 per cent during COVID. The brand introduced Quick Pick-Up shelves last November to shorten drive-thru lines and pro vide an additional outlet. Guests place their order online or via KFC’s app and park in dedicated VIP spots to run in and grab the food. KFC’s NextGen design, which debuted in Q4 2021, features f lexible double lanes that adjust based on the store’s demand. So if there’s too much capacity, it

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OCTOBER 2022 | QSR | www.qsrmagazine.com