Chick-fil-A is taking its drive-thru to new heights with its latest digital-focused concept. The company will open its first two-story, four-lane “elevated drive-thru” on Thursday in McDonough, Georgia, near its home base in Atlanta.

The building features a kitchen on the second floor as well as a conveyor belt system that delivers orders to Team Members in two food service areas on the ground floor. It offers customers multiple options for getting their chicken sandwich: two “Mobile Thru” lanes for guests who order ahead using the Chick-fil-A app and two traditional checkout lanes where guests can place their order with a Team Member.

It’s the second of two test concepts from Chick-fil-A this year. The other, a unique mobile pickup store, opened in New York City this spring. Both are aimed at guests on the go who value convenience.

With digital orders accounting for more than half of total sales in some markets, the company recognizes the need to evolve its physical spaces to meet the demands of an increasingly omnichannel world, says Jonathan Reed, executive director of design at Chick-fil-A.

“It all comes down to relentlessly pursuing the customer – understanding what their desires are and how they want to interact with the brand,” he says. “Digital is obviously a big part of that. The pandemic has really accelerated adoption there. Now it’s, ‘OK, what’s the high point? Where is the customer going to take us? Because that’s where we need to be.'”

With a kitchen twice the size of a typical restaurant and four lanes that can accommodate up to 75 cars, the elevated drive-thru was designed to allow for faster throughput and larger volumes. Similar to other existing Chick-fil-A drive-thru locations, there is no on-site dining room or service. But by building the kitchen above the drive-thru lanes, meals are delivered more quickly to team members who deliver orders directly to the customer in a space protected by the upper level, so hospitality isn’t sacrificed for the speed of service.

Reed says the idea of ​​accelerating the guest experience while emphasizing human interaction was a guiding principle throughout the design process.

“How does digital meet physical? How do we integrate all of this together? Those are the overarching design principles we’re always asking ourselves,” he says. “We’re committed to genuine hospitality, which is always evident in every channel we’re in. That’s why every meal in this upscale drive-thru is delivered by a team member. That’s non-negotiable for us.”

So why did Chick-fil-A decide to build upward for this new concept? Reed says this decision was due to the need to make the most of the limited space.

“If you don’t go up, you have to go out, and that gets harder for a lot of different reasons,” he says. “We’re always trying to solve the equation of space. It’s a finite resource, so you have to pay attention to centimeters and seconds.”

There were many other unique aspects that Chick-fil-A had to consider when developing this model, including developing the technology for the food transportation system. Separating elements of the ordering process through physical distance can create a number of challenges. “So getting the food to our team members downstairs was a big hurdle,” says Reed. The company worked with technology vendors to develop a conveyor system that can deliver a meal downstairs every six seconds.

“I just watched team members being trained on it the other day, and it’s super intuitive,” says Reed. “We wanted to take the cognitive load off them so they could really focus on the most value-added steps of their job. The food delivery system was a key part of that.”

Food preparation areas are also self-contained: beverage and dessert production stations, dry goods and dishwashers are all within easy reach to ensure employees “never have to leave their workstation,” he adds.

Another important aspect was helping people navigate the format. Chick-fil-A is no newcomer to drive-thru concepts, but the new design still represents a visual departure from what guests typically find.

“They may see that it looks different and wonder where to go or what to do as a customer,” Reed says. “Our team has done a phenomenal job with what I call the ‘front door.’ When customers come onto the property, we have this portal with signs pointing them in the right direction. Whether you’re working digitally or want to talk to a team member and place our traditional in-person order, you can look at that and know how to navigate into the right lane.”

The traffic flow has also been designed with third-party deliveries in mind, with a dedicated lane where these drivers can quickly pull in, pick up an order and drive off again.

“Their whole thing is speed, right? We want to meet that demand because they have a customer in the back where they want to be fast,” Reed says. “They’ll see it, they’ll know which lane to get in, and I bet they’ll love it because for these guys, time is money.”

Chick-fil-A plans to evaluate the success of the improved drive-thru using a three-pronged approach that considers guests, employees and finances.

“It always starts with the customer,” says Reed. “We’ll evaluate whether we’re meeting the needs for speed, taste, convenience, overall satisfaction – all the things we’re always going to measure. Then, from a team member and local owner/operator perspective, it’s about making sure they can do the job efficiently, that we’re not adding extra steps, that it’s intuitive, and that we’re giving them the space and equipment to meet the customer’s needs. I think if we do those things, the demand should be there, and then the financials should take care of themselves.”

The company sees potential for more upscale drive-thru locations in the future, but is not rushing the process, he adds.

“It’s definitely a prototype,” says Reed. “We have one that we’re going to learn from, and we have some good hypotheses that we’re going to test, but we’re going to be patient and diligent about it. We hope to hit the jackpot with this and then start making some decisions about how we integrate this into our portfolio of offerings.”