You've heard of a slow lane, a fast lane, even a carpool lane. But how about a human lane? Chipotle is about to introduce you to the concept with walk-up windows at some of its new and existing locations.
The news came from Chipotle's chief development officer, Tabassum Zalotrawala, who shared with Nation's Restaurant News in an interview that the fast-casual chain is looking to optimize its existing 3,000 locations as its drive-through sales have returned good numbers.
The chain's drive-through option, Chipotlane, has been added to two dozen restaurants over the past three years, and Zalotrawala shared another dozen are expected to receive the upgrade this year.
The option has helped boost sales for the restaurant chain with an increase in sales by 5% to 6% for pre-existing locations that added a Chipotlane.
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But Chipotle has been working to find another option for restaurants that cannot add a drive-through based on their location.
For those restaurants, Zalotrawala told NRN, a walk-up window is being considered to help customers pick up their burritos even easier.
"We started thinking about locations that can't accommodate a Chipotlane, where there's not the space for it. These are urban, but have a lot of foot traffic," Zalotrawala said to NRN.
Zalotrawala continued in the interview, saying that the feature would offer a new option to those ordering through Chipotle's app.
"Generally, those units in an urban environment are spaces that are physically smaller, longer, or with narrower storefronts," Zalotrawala said. "So we thought what if we added walk-up windows, like a human lane, if you will, so if you were a customer that used the app and ordered ahead, you had no reason to go inside the restaurant, particularly those smaller footprints where you might find some congestion."
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Now Chipotle fans in Gainesville, Florida, will be able to experience the company's first walk-up window at the location near the University of Florida campus. Zalotrawala said that this is just the first and a way for the company to test out the burrito delivery style.
"This is a pilot location. We will probably test a few more using our Stage Gate process," Zalotrawala said. "The preference for ongoing conversion will always be a Chipotlane versus walk-up window. What I'm trying to prove out is the hypothesis that the walk-up window is a good alternative when a lane isn't possible, and it's an investment that has good returns."
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