Chick-fil-A Unveils a New Elevated Kitchen Concept for Faster Service

When Taco Bell debuted its four-lane drive-thru concept in 2022, it appended a bold name to the design: Taco Bell Defy, so named because it defies customers’ expectations with advanced technology and innovative upgrades. 

One such upgrade was the notion of an “elevated” design, where the kitchen sits above the drive-thru lanes and ferries food to the waiting cars down below. This week, Chick-fil-A opens its own version of the fast food phenomenon in McDonough, Georgia, one that aims to speed up service for guests and create a more frictionless ordering experience. 

The McDonough Chick-fil-A has features you might never have seen in a drive-thru before. For one thing, there’s an archway immediately upon entering that divides mobile drive-thru from regular drive-thru, the former being for those picking up an order they’ve already placed in the Chick-fil-A app. The respective lanes split off for their respective ordering procedures, then funnel into a central corridor shaded by the massive restaurant structure sitting atop it; this is where cars idle while the food is being prepared. The kitchen above fulfills the order, sends it down a conveyor belt to the ground level, and employees ferry the food from the conveyor belt to the waiting vehicle. 

The kitchen above the four drive-thru lanes is twice as large as that of a normal Chick-fil-A, whose kitchens must fit within a blueprint that also prioritizes a large dining room space. Since this design has no dining room to speak of, the square footage can go almost entirely to kitchen space. 

Jonathan Reed, executive director of design for Chick-fil-A, told Food & Wine that McDonough, an area south of metro Atlanta, was chosen as the pilot site for the elevated restaurant because of the area’s bustling commuter population, its proximity to the Chick-fil-A Corporate Support Center, and the fact that it simply had enough space to house a multi-drive-thru-lane concept.

The design was first unveiled in July 2023, when executive director of restaurant design Khalilah Cooper told Nation’s Restaurant News, “We’re evaluating customers’ experience. Does it feel easy? Does it feel seamless? Can they navigate this easily? Are we giving them time back?” Now, as the first elevated location opens to the public, Reed notes in the press release, “We’re aiming to deliver quality food and genuine hospitality in a way that’s uniquely Chick-fil-A, and gives our guests time back in their day.”

Clearly, “time back” is a recurring theme — and one with lucrative implications for any fast food chain that can get it right. In the drive-thru lane, shaving mere seconds off customers’ total transaction time can have seven-figure implications on a balance sheet, since it allows more customers to flow through the ordering process. That’s why so many chains are currently emphasizing speed as a marker of success; multiple chains are even testing out AI voice drive-thru tech as a way to keep things moving. 

“The food conveyor system allows for a meal to be delivered to a Team Member every six seconds,” Chick-fil-A says of its new design. “However, hospitality remains a focal point. Guests will continue to get the service and care that they know and love through an easy, drive-thru-focused experience.”

That conveyor belt, by the way, is a feature that required a bit of tinkering. “Given the kitchen is elevated above the drive-thru created hurdles for us in the sense that we needed to make sure the unique food transport system was designed in a way that is intuitive and easy for our team members to learn but also allows for a meal to get down to our team members quickly,” Reed told Food & Wine.

In addition to the new elevated restaurant concept, Chick-fil-A rolled out another new design this year: a 400-square-foot grab-and-go spot in New York City. That one is arguably an even more radical disruption of the fast food status quo than the elevated kitchens because it’s intended exclusively for mobile order pickup; in McDonough, you have the option of picking up a preordered meal or selecting items from the menu boards on site. There are no menu boards at the new Manhattan model. There aren’t even chairs. 

And this isn’t even the only news to break about America’s third-largest fast-food chain this week. Deadline reports that Chick-fil-A is currently planning a leap into the entertainment industry, launching its own streaming platform full of original and acquired programming. The emphasis appears to be on “family-friendly” shows, which, given Chick-fil-A’s whole deal, makes all too much sense. (Incidentally, don’t even think about trying to visit the new elevated kitchen on a Sunday.)