Drive-thru concepts have evolved from a novelty and convenient add-on to a core, growth-focused channel that many franchisors now treat as a primary engine for unit expansion and profitability. Industry data indicates that drive-thrus are integral to the franchising industry's overall success, particularly in the food service and restaurant sectors. Let’s explore how drive-thrus help franchisors and franchisees ensure financial resilience and hedge against future disruptions and shifts in demand.
Economics that Favor Scale
The drive-thru format allows more customers to be served per hour than traditional dine-in restaurants, increasing potential daily revenue without expanding the building footprint. Because these concepts may require smaller dining rooms—or none at all—franchisees can sometimes benefit from lower rent, utilities, and interior build-out costs, while reallocating funds to expanded drive-thru lanes (and possibly parking lots) and labor toward order-taking and production.
For sophisticated operators and multi-unit franchisees, this combination of higher volume and more efficient space usage supports scalable growth and long-term unit economics.
Technology and Operational Innovation
The surge in drive-thru demand also exposed pain points, such as longer wait times and order accuracy issues, prompting investment in technology and operational redesign. In response, franchises are increasingly deploying mobile ordering, digital menu boards, AI-enabled order-taking and queue management systems to streamline decision-making, speed service, and increase average check size. Concurrently, franchisors continue to emphasize training and systems, while franchisees remain responsible for hiring, supervision, and maintaining consistent execution at the window.
In its 2025 Franchising Economic Outlook, the International Franchise Association (IFA) detailed how brands that invest in AI and technology that enhances drive-thru experiences will have a competitive edge and decrease reliance on third-party vendors.
As the IFA noted: “The implementation of voice automation in drive-thru ordering and robotic assistance in kitchen operations is anticipated to improve efficiency, reduce labor demands, and enhance service consistency. For instance, Dirty Dough has installed machine-learning cameras that use object detection to track hourly employee counts and customer wait times to enable optimal and streamlined employee staffing.”
In December 2022, McDonald’s provided a glimpse of future restaurant takeout and drive-thru service with a franchised unit in Fort Worth, Texas.
The location was constructed to be operated almost entirely by machines and automation; its drive-thru pickup window is completely robotic. The visceral experience of picking up a meal from the location without uttering a word or interacting with a person has been viewed millions of times on social media outlets. The unit still uses robotics in the drive-thru.
These innovations underscore how the industry is evolving, and how – with the guidance of franchise lawyers – franchisors and franchisees may want to prepare for these types of changes in their franchise agreements.
Franchisors will need to update their franchise disclosure documents (FDD) as they adapt some of these innovations. For example, Item 7 should reflect costs associated with new technology and Item 8 will have to be revised to account for required suppliers for new equipment and possible changes to insurance requirements.
How Leading Brands Are Reframing the Model
Rather than viewing the drive-thru as an accessory to a traditional dining room, major brands are designing models where off-premises demand and drive-thru are central to long-term success.
Coffee. In 2022, Starbucks announced it would accelerate its store growth, outfitting 90% of new stores with a drive-thru. Look around your neighborhood. Aside from major metropolitan cities – how many Starbucks locations are only storefronts? They’ve followed through on their plan to make lanes for vehicles.
The coffee giant reportedly invested $1 billion in its employees and technology this fiscal year to meet ongoing consumer demand across drive-thru, mobile order and pay, as well as delivery and in-store orders.
Even amid its “Back To Starbucks” campaign to kick off 2026 – which is intended to return customers to the unique experience of enjoying coffee – part of the strategy was utilizing a “Smart Queue” to sequence café, mobile, drive-thru, and delivery orders. Paired with AI tools and next‑generation espresso equipment, these systems reduce service times and increase peak output, especially in drive‑thru-heavy locations.
But Starbucks is not the only coffee brand harnessing innovation’s promise. 7 Brew has grown from a handful of stands to hundreds of locations in just a few years, positioning itself as a drive‑thru beverage specialist. Its model centers on compact, modular drive‑thru stands that can be deployed quickly, which has attracted significant private equity investment and large multi‑unit development deals for more than 200 additional stands across multiple states. The brand’s drive‑thru focus is credited with strong traffic per location and enough momentum to challenge incumbents like Dutch Bros and Scooter’s Coffee.
Chicken and Higher-Quality Fast Food. Raising Cane’s, a quick‑service chicken brand, is in the midst of a nationwide expansion aiming to reach 1,600 units nationwide in 2026. Raising Cane’s has surpassed larger legacy chains in annual U.S. chicken sales, reflecting both strong consumer demand and the efficiency of its operating model.
Its standard prototype emphasizes drive‑thru capacity for a limited menu, allowing high volumes and consistent execution across markets. The pipeline of about 300 restaurants at various development stages underscores how central the drive‑thru-centric model is to the brand’s emergence.
Implications for Franchise Stakeholders
These systems illustrate how drive‑thrus can support rapid new‑unit development, efficient physical footprints, and higher per‑unit transaction capacity. To move forward with this sort of change in product delivery, franchisors must ensure that their franchise agreements allow for innovation via the adoption of new technology, evolving store prototypes, and updated operational standards.
For franchise stakeholders, the key themes across these brands include investment in technology, simplified menus and operations, and real estate strategies optimized around stacking space and off‑premises demand rather than traditional dining rooms.
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