Fast casual restaurants normally provide a comfortable and welcoming experience and quick and quality service. Fulfilling customer expectations has led to many fast casual restaurant design trends to emerge. Encore Construction has completed projects for some of these fast casual chains, such as Le Pain Quotidien, Zoës Kitchen, Au Bon Pain and more. The following are a couple design trends that are influencing the layout and construction of fast casual restaurants.
Self-Ordering Stations
Many fast casual restaurant designs use the entry point to lead to the register for patrons to place their orders, or to the start of open-kitchen ordering lines. To further streamline this process, many restaurants are installing self-ordering stations. With that, customers can use a touchscreen interface to browse menu items, place their order, and make their payments. Adding this bit of technological flair to the restaurant gives the impression of efficiency and modernization while freeing up staff to perform other duties rather than taking orders.
Delivery and Pick-Up
Plenty of fast casual restaurants are partnering with mobile food delivery services or running their own “order ahead” feature from their websites and apps. With this trend came the need for improving delivery and in-store pick-up efforts. To keep up with competitors and serve more customers, the restaurant design should create a fast pick-up station to keep up with consumer demand.
Ready-to-Eat Display
Refrigerated displays and open-air grab-and-go cases are increasingly finding a spot within fast casual restaurants. For hungry yet busy customers that need to step out for a quick bite or those who need to grab something for lunch while ordering their breakfast, these pre-packaged takeaways provide convenience to the diner.
Fewer Disposables, More Dishes
More and more restaurants are conscious of their single-use and disposable cutlery and takeaway containers usage. They recognize patrons are becoming more eco-conscious, yet restaurants need to provide a certain standard of convenience. For now, it seems the best solution is offering both disposables for take-out and traditional metal cutlery for dining-in. In many cases, these fast casual restaurants choose environmentally friendly alternatives like recycled napkins and biodegradable disposables. In conjunction with these efforts, restaurants need to factor regular dishwashing into their commercial kitchen design.
Work With Encore Construction
As a premier commercial general contractor, Encore Construction is proud to provide interior and exterior services in Baltimore, Maryland and beyond. We have an impeccable track record, an impressive portfolio, and an experienced team that is ready to tackle your next big project. Our results speak for themselves, and we’re proud of the work we continue to produce for our clients.
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