Companies have announced new investments for drive-thru dining as Americans have shifted gears from sit-down dinner to deliveries and drive-thrus during the pandemic. Cheddar News speaks with Marnie Shure, Managing Editor at the Takeout whether this shift is permanent and how it will impact the restaurant industry moving forward. 

Closing Bell

Gear Up For More Drive-Thru Dining   

Welcome back everyone to closing bell here on cheddar news, I'm Chloe aiello. Now the restaurant industry has changed significantly in the past few years. Not just because restaurants were forced to shut down and take precautionary measures because of the pandemic, but also because of the way americans order food according to the NPD group delivery increased 116% in the last two years while drive through group 20% as americans grappled with health concerns and capacity restrictions in sit down dining rooms. Now joining me now to discuss is Marnie Scher, managing editor of the Take out. Marnie, thank you so much for joining us today. Now, even as we saw the restaurant industry broadly tumble drive thru restaurants have seen a significant boost during the pandemic. Is this a temporary fad or a permanent shift with american consumers? Well, it is one that fast food is betting big on. Um They saw a lot of increased business through that drive through as you were saying. And not only were they seeing an increase in the use of the drive through during the pandemic and beyond to the present day, the order sizes and the price on those drive through orders is higher during the pandemic. That probably started because people were ordering for an entire household um instead of just you know commuting on to the office and getting that individual order. So it's been shown to be quite lucrative. Um Wendy's last year cited um drive through as well as you know delivery options as some of the biggest things keeping them afloat. Now marty as you mentioned, we did see these fast food chains that benefit from this change in behavior? And it seems like at least from the way they are investing now. They think this is a permanent change now. We've seen fast food chains like Wendy's and Taco Bell investing in drive through even some smaller restaurants as well. Are they making the right call? Well, time will tell, but they are making a call that is informed by the success that they've had the most over the past two years. Taco Bell defy is the model with four different drive through lanes. Chipotle planes are designed for mobile pickup specific lanes of traffic and even the sweet green, sweet lane is trying to do mobile order only lanes in the drive through. And with the new Wendy's redesign unveiled for global Next gen that's what they're calling their new design. It all points to the fact that they want to optimize multiple levels of business in, in room dining on site. People who walk into a rest want to pick up their order. People who order through the mobile app and get rewards and delivery drivers who go through that drive through as well as regular commuter traffic that goes through the drive thru. So whether or not it's the right call remains to be seen. But so far everyone is very excited to unveil those new designs. Let's talk about untapped market for a second here. There's a portion of diners that never go to drive throughs, What do these chains have to do to attract those diners and make them customers? That's a great question and I kind of count myself among people who don't typically use the drive through. Um One thing that they are doing by developing these concepts that optimize multiple ordering channels is that they're reducing some of the pain points associated with the drive through, you know, those long lines that you can sometimes see stack up really scare people and by optimizing multiple lanes at once, you really cut down on that and maybe make people think today is the day I try to drive through instead of parking and walking in. We've been talking a lot about the restaurant chains here, but what are you actually hearing from consumers? Do they want to use the drive through or are they awaiting a return or two more normalcy and sit down dining? Well, I think that those two consumer groups might be fundamentally different from the start. Uh Someone more inclined to go dine in on site in a fast food restaurant isn't looking for the same experience that someone who's going through the drive thru would be road trips and daily commuting are a huge market for the drive through and those aren't necessarily enticed by the sit down dining, but they are in a lot of these redesigns sort of optimizing that front area, you know, de emphasizing the in room dining that you might have seen in the past, and so people will just sort of automatically perhaps be beckoned towards other channels of dining, ones that they're typically used to. Marnie. Thank you so much for your time and insight. There certainly an interesting trend to keep watching out for that smarty shirt managing editor at the Take out.