Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp. said next year it will take the wraps off a new digitally-inspired restaurant design it’s calling Taco Bell Go Mobile.
The concept boasts stepped up features that place an emphasis on speed and efficiency in getting orders to customers. The first of the new design concepts is set to open in the first quarter of next year.
“With demand for our drive-thru at an all-time high, we know adapting to meet our consumers’ rapidly changing needs has never been more important,” Taco Bell President and global Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams said in a statement.
Taco Bell Go Mobile footprints will be smaller than the typical Taco Bell at 1,325 square feet. Regular Taco Bells average 2,500 square feet.
Go Mobiles will also boast two drive-thru lanes, with one dedicated to customers who place an order on the app. The app will also be aligned with the restaurant kitchen to make suggestions to customers on the fastest way of picking up their order once they’ve arrived.
Those quick-serve restaurant operators who could, moved quickly during the pandemic to continue servicing guests, enhancing mobile apps, expanding third-party delivery programs and creating curbside pick-up offerings in an effort to limit contact between customers and employees.
Curbside pick-up and what Taco Bell’s calling its version of bellhops, employees who will take drive-thru orders on a tablet, will also be part of the new design concept.
The chain said it has already been testing some of the Taco Bell Go Mobile features at its regular restaurants and said it managed to trim drive-thru experiences by more than 15 seconds since the first quarter of this year.
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