Chick-fil-A is opening the chain’s first upscale drive-in restaurant, the company announced Wednesday.
The restaurant, located at 2155 Jodeco Road in McDonough, Georgia, south of Metro Atlanta, will open on Thursday, August 22, and will be the first restaurant of its kind for the popular fast-food chain.
According to the company, the drive-thru-only restaurant features four drive-thru lanes and an elevated kitchen with a “unique food transport system,” which the company describes as a “sophisticated conveyor belt” that streamlines food delivery by “quickly moving food from the elevated kitchen above to a team member on the ground below.”
The kitchen is twice the size of a typical Chick-fil-A restaurant kitchen, and the conveyor belt allows a meal to be delivered to a team member every six seconds, Chick-fil-A said. There is no on-site dining room or service at this restaurant, Chick-fil-A noted, but the four-lane drive-thru can accommodate “two to three times more vehicles” than a typical Chick-fil-A restaurant drive-thru.
Two ways to get your meal
According to Chick-fil-A, the restaurant offers its customers two options to receive their meal:
- You can order in advance using the Chick-fil-A app and pick up your order using the dedicated Mobile Thru lines.
- You can place your order with a team member in the traditional drive-thru lanes
“Our guests lead busy lives and we are focused on designing our restaurants to best meet their needs,” said Jonathan Reed, executive director of design at Chick-fil-A, Inc., in the press release.
“With the new Elevated Drive-Thru design, which includes our first four-lane drive-thru, we aim to offer 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,” added Reed.
Elevated Drive-Thru is the second new restaurant type to open at Chick-fil-A this year
The new drive-thru restaurant concept comes just months after Chick-fil-A opened its first mobile pickup restaurant in New York City in March.
The mobile pickup restaurant, according to the company, aims to “meet the needs of busy New Yorkers by focusing exclusively on delivery and mobile app ordering for quick and easy pickup.” It is located on the corner of 79th Street and 2nd Ave on the Upper East Side.
According to Chick-fil-A, the new restaurant concept starts with customers pre-ordering through the Chick-fil-A app or online and placing their order for delivery or takeout. The restaurant will be notified via geofencing when customers are on the move to speed up the process and ensure each meal is timed to the customer’s arrival.
The restaurant has active delivery and mobile pickup status boards so customers and delivery drivers can see in real time when their orders are ready.
Once orders are ready, guests and delivery drivers will receive their order. Although the restaurant does not offer a sit-down area or dine-in service, Chick-fil-A says the company’s “signature hospitality is at the forefront of every step of this digitally-focused experience.”
Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on X. @GabeHauari or email him at [email protected].
