Speaking with Adweek, Wendy’s president and international chief development officer Abigail Pringle explained that takeout’s growing share of business was the impetus behind the infrastructural changes. “The focus on digital ordering has accelerated over the past few years as customers have become more comfortable with delivery, online and mobile ordering,” she said. “We expect this trend to continue.”
Some 200 stores will feature the new design between now and 2024, according to the company.
Meanwhile, aside from burgers …
Americans’ pandemic-forged yen for takeout has led to design tweaks for brands in other segments, too. Papa Johns announced a new look for its international stores earlier this year, which closely resembles the domestic-store remodeling plan it spoke to Adweek about at the end of 2021.
Developed to streamline takeout, the package includes pickup shelves and large plate-glass windows through which customers waiting for their pies can watch the action in the kitchen. (Oversized lettering spanning the wall over the window announces, “Welcome to the Dough Show.”) The new design eliminates menu boards, too. “Over 80% of our purchases [now] happen online, [so] there isn’t necessarily a need for menu boards,” said then-chief commercial officer Max Wetzel. (Wetzel stepped down in March.)
With the redesign now rolling out across the system, chief international and development officer Amanda Clark told Adweek that headquarters has “received very positive feedback on our new restaurant design” and that “franchisees are attracted to [its] operational efficiencies … they are better able to manage fluctuations in order type and volume.”
For its part, casual-dining pioneer TGI Fridays was—at least as of 2022—also at the drafting table with the to-go business in mind. Speaking at a conference last year, CEO Ray Blanchette detailed a scaled-down prototype called Fridays on the Fly, a 2,500-square foot restaurant designed to better handle takeout orders placed during off-peak hours.
On Aug. 30, CMO Brandon Coleman III replaced Blanchette in the CEO’s office, so it was not clear at press time if the experimental Fridays was still going to fly at headquarters, which did not respond to Adweek’s request for an update.
The role of indulgence
Upscale ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs also went public with redesign plans recently, though the reasoning wasn’t solely about takeout. Eating ice cream at home is already a long-established tradition in America, with various surveys indicating that 7 in 10 of us have ice cream in our freezers at all times, and two-thirds most often eat it on the sofa in front of the TV.