Because the pandemic, fast-food restaurant design has turn into geared towards environment friendly, quick pickup and drive-thrus. However designing an inside takes cautious thought and consideration for a cushty, pleasant eating expertise.
Marco’s Pizza has a brand new restaurant design that’s inviting, colourful and comfy. Photograph: Marco’s Pizza
The basic purple and yellow arches could also be iconic, however the panorama of fast-food design is present process a change. Whereas effectivity stays key, eating places are more and more prioritizing aesthetics and making a extra inviting environment to maintain clients coming again.
Quick-food eating places are embracing clear strains, pure gentle and pops of colour to create a extra comfy eating expertise. Assume open flooring plans with cubicles and high-top tables for socializing, alongside devoted areas for cell employees with easy accessibility to retailers.
“High quality is so essential nowadays and folks discover it immediately if you come right into a restaurant,” mentioned Dan Wilson, a licensed architect and restaurant division lead of architectural design agency Tessere. He added that because the COVID-19 pandemic, fast-food eating places have been geared towards folks on the go who do not need to dine-in.
“All the things that is occurring in a restaurant offers you an impression of the place (and) whether or not or not you are going to come again,” he added.
Expertise can be taking middle stage. Interactive digital menu boards permit for simple customization and upselling, whereas self-order kiosks streamline the ordering course of, lowering wait occasions. These options cater to a tech-savvy technology and unlock employees to deal with customer support.
“Automation is basically essential,” mentioned Beau Jarvis, an architect and undertaking supervisor for Tessere. “Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers has a stand by which they put carryout orders and clients can seize them without having to work together with an worker. “It is creating choices for patrons.”
The drive-thru, a mainstay of quick meals, can be evolving. Twin lanes and designated pick-up areas for cell orders have gotten commonplace to deal with the rising quantity of takeout visitors. Some chains are even experimenting with categorical lanes for particular gadgets, like espresso or fries.
Listed below are eight ideas for making a fast-food restaurant panorama that can please company and staff alike.
Model id in your fast-food restaurant design
Your franchise will most definitely have a number of designs to select from, however you need to design your house to replicate your model id. Use colours, textures and furnishings that creates the sensation you need to evoke (enjoyable, family-friendly, trendy or stately). You will need to select the format that most accurately fits your web site and your neighborhood.
Wilson mentioned earth tones have gotten dated as new designs deal with grays, black and white for a clear, refined look. Taco Bell, a Tessere consumer, used to do earth tones however chooses a clear look right now.
Each model is totally different. Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers makes use of its signature hue, purple, as pops of colour with white all through its eating places, giving them a vibrant, constant look, Jarvis mentioned. Freddy’s has a stainless-steel countertop that provides a clear and linear atmosphere.
Effectivity is essential
Quick meals is about pace, effectivity and comfort. Design a transparent visitors circulation for patrons to order, pay, obtain meals and get rid of waste. If potential, attempt to go away a separate space for patrons to choose up their meals. In-N-Out has a protracted counter with registers for patrons to order after which a piece of the counter as they name out numbers for orders.
Menu boards
Make your menu boards straightforward to learn with clear fonts, high-quality pictures and attractive descriptions. Think about digital menu boards for flexibility. You are additionally going to need to preserve your menu boards, so if a light-weight goes out it’s repaired shortly so clients can simply learn them.
Quick-food restaurant design seating
Supply a wide range of seating choices to cater to totally different wants, Wilson mentioned. Embrace cubicles for households, highchairs for kids and comfy particular person chairs. Consolation is the important thing right here, as is cleanliness. You need seating to be simply washer-friendly after ketchup spills and greasy fingerprints. You should definitely change damaged or ripped furnishings to keep away from your restaurant trying shabby and unkempt.
“It must be straightforward to maintain clear so if you are available in, you are feeling such as you’re in an surroundings that someone is taking good care of,” Wilson mentioned. “High quality is so essential nowadays and everybody notices immediately if you go to a restaurant.”
Lighting issues
When designing your fast-food restaurant, use brilliant lighting in ordering and eating areas to create an brisk environment. Process lighting can be utilized to spotlight particular areas. Once more, upkeep is essential in lighting areas. Burnt out lightbulbs can create darkish spots in your restaurant and provides a sense of neglect.
Embrace know-how
Here is the place self-ordering kiosks, digital menu boards and cell ordering choices come into play. These can streamline the method and improve the shopper expertise. For cell ordering, you may doubtless have to create parking areas within the car parking zone designed for cell pick-up. You will want no less than three to 4 designated parking areas with indicators denoting that these areas are for cell pick-up solely.
Wilson mentioned of all of the manufacturers Tessere works with, Taco Bell has been in entrance of utilizing kiosks for ordering, beginning small with one or two kiosks in a shops. At present, kiosks have gotten a regular in Taco Bell restaurant design. “They’re actually encouraging that fast kiosk and even cell ordering,” he added.
Accessibility for all
Whenever you’re constructing your restaurant, ensure you are ADA compliant with seating, ramps outdoors, handicapped parking areas and accessible bogs.
Guarantee your restaurant has no less than one entrance with a transparent path, no less than 36-inches large, to accommodate wheelchairs and different mobility units. Computerized doorways or doorways with easy-to-operate handles are ideally suited.
Designate a portion of your ordering counter to be wheelchair accessible, both with a decrease top or a pass-through window for simple interplay.
Present a chosen wheelchair-accessible desk in your eating space, with ample house for maneuvering. Think about offering booster seats for kids.
Quick-food restaurant design extras
Do not forget small particulars that improve the expertise and make clients need to frequent your restaurant repeatedly. This contains cellphone charging stations, additional plugs for computer systems, condiment bars and even a play space for kids.
Conclusion
Whereas your franchise will most definitely dictate what fast-food restaurant designs you are in a position to decide on, there’s a variety of consideration that goes into constructing.
“I all the time wish to encourage {that a} franchisee get the positioning civil engineer concerned,” Wilson mentioned. “I wish to see the positioning labored out first with the civil engineer and the planning division and the engineering division – all these totally different branches of jurisdiction. Quite a lot of occasions when (the architectural agency and the civil engineer) are each kicked off on the identical time, we are able to produce the constructing drawings pretty shortly and we’re prepared for allow. Some jurisdictions will not help you allow the constructing till the positioning’s authorised. The positioning approval takes quite a bit longer than constructing.”