Chick-fil-A has opened the first-of-its-kind location with four drive-thru lanes and an elevated kitchen with a “unique food transportation system.”
The Atlanta location opened Thursday and the restaurant chain says the new concept is “strategically designed to increase speed of service and simplify the drive-thru experience for guests.”
Unlike traditional drive-ins, where customers drive past a window to the kitchen, the kitchen at this restaurant is above the drivers. Chick-fil-A says meals are transported via a sophisticated conveyor belt system that “streamlines food delivery by quickly moving the meal from the elevated kitchen above to a team member downstairs on the ground floor.”
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The restaurant chain says the kitchen is twice the size of its usual locations and the system can deliver a meal every six seconds. Chick-fil-A added that the new location has the capacity to handle two to three times more traffic than a traditional location.
“Our guests lead busy lives and we are committed to designing our restaurants to best meet their needs,” said Jonathan Reed, director of design at Chick-fil-A, Inc. “With the new Elevated Drive-Thru design, which includes our first four-lane drive-thru, we aim to deliver quality food and genuine hospitality in a way that is uniquely Chick-fil-A and gives our guests more time to focus on their daily lives.”
Chick-fil-A has not said whether it plans to expand the concept to other locations.
QSR Magazine’s drive-thru report last year said that Chick-fil-A had the longest wait times of any major chain. However, the report also noted that Chick-fil-A’s lines are much longer than those at typical fast-food restaurants, so wait times per car at the restaurants are short.
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