When longtime resident Alma Joyce Jones heard {that a} nationwide greenback retailer model was coming close to the Village of Bonita, Louisiana (inhabitants 164), she borrowed the phrases of Grammy-nominated nation singer Jimmie Allen, “It’s the little issues which are huge in a small city!” If legends are made in small cities, then so too are the pillars of the quick meals and retail industries, which have discovered sustenance and progress in these tight-knit communities.
Along with retrofitting existing structures on main streets, rural and small-town areas supply the chance to construct new restaurant areas that complement post-pandemic consumer behavior. Notably, extra American fast-food shoppers are spending less time in-store and are as a substitute choosing restaurants with drive-thru options. Analysis into shopper eating habits additionally means that when choosing between two locations of the same business, shoppers desire the situation that provides a drive-thru. Knowledge additionally reveals that buyers not solely desire drive-thru areas but in addition these with sufficient drive-thru capacity.
Listed below are three key issues when considering a shift towards the modern drive-thru.
1. Current group infrastructure and zoning rules might restrict choices.
Given the current inflow of People into small cities, present roads and visitors patterns could also be strained past their unique design. A restaurant counting on a longtime drive-thru in these areas might exacerbate these points, resulting in congested intersections and blocked sidewalks and bike paths.
In some areas, municipal leaders have attempted to limit or even ban drive-thru locations. Nevertheless, these makes an attempt might probably be preempted by collaborating with group leaders to develop new traffic patterns, enhance pedestrian entry, and strategize methods to cut back visitors congestion. If existing zoning regulations may limit fast-food restaurant enlargement, then QSRs might want to collaborate with native leaders to revise or repeal these rules. Moreover, elevated visitors in areas shared by pedestrians and different highway customers might increase the risk of accidents. Due to this fact, pre-planning can be necessary to attenuate driver-pedestrian accidents in drive-thru areas.
2. Trendy drive-thrus require a bigger neighborhood.
Gone are the times of the one drive-thru lane with the one level of sale. As an alternative, consumers are seeking options that maximize convenience and efficiency, together with double or triple drive-thrus (i.e., drive-thrus with two or three lanes) and dedicated mobile ordering queues. Experts don’t expect this development to finish anytime quickly.
Given this, fast-food eating places and different QSRs might want to buy or lease parcels that supply enough house for brand new institutions that supply expanded drive-thru choices. A number of main chicken and burger manufacturers have launched retailer ideas and prototypes that maximize consumer car access whereas minimizing dine-in footprints.
3. Rural areas might pose provide chain challenges.
The fast-food business is already acquainted with supply chain constraints. Working in rural areas, which will be difficult for suppliers to access easily and quickly, can show tough, particularly when the business grapples with international shortages. Overcoming these challenges would require inventive considering, contingency planning, and strategic partnering.
Eating places increasing into rural and small-town markets have relied on knowledge methods to track local consumer purchasing behavior, permitting them to higher plan when provides could also be restricted or exhausted. Moreover, business consultants advocate that eating places identify alternative suppliers when doable. Nevertheless, given the inherent constraints for rural and small-town markets, consultants recommend that different suppliers ought to function a contingency plan relatively than a core provide chain technique.
Lastly, fast-food eating places in rural and small cities might take into account how greatest to associate with the communities during which they function. Native farming industries usually present financial assist to rural cities, and eating places might leverage these native producers as suppliers. A major salad QSR has already seen success in constructing a community of native suppliers for its menu choices.
Key Takeaways
Though city facilities had been as soon as key for profitable restaurant enlargement, shifts in American shopper habits recommend that small cities and rural areas are the (re)new(ed) frontier for fast-food and QSRs. Extra People are transferring to those areas and preferring eating choices that supply them maximized comfort. Eating places can leverage this cultural shift by exploring enlargement methods that emphasize small city and rural markets. Business leaders advocate retrofitting present areas or changing vacant storefronts and establishing new areas with expanded drive-thrus and cell order pick-up. Profitable enlargement methods ought to adapt to particular and distinctive group wants. Eating places can work carefully with native leaders to make sure seamless integration.
Extra analysis and writing from Sean Worley, a 2024 summer season affiliate in ArentFox Schiff’s Washington, DC workplace and a regulation scholar at Georgetown College Regulation Middle.