If restaurants have learned anything in 2022, it’s that consumers’ pandemic habits aren’t going away. While many are grateful to be able to dine-in again, others continue to want to pick up meals and take them home.
Throughout the year, we’ve seen restaurant chains make permanent changes to their units to accommodate the modern consumer. Many quick-service brands — and one casual-dining company — introduced off-premises-only units. Others adapted existing stores to add more drive-thru lanes or walk-up windows. One even started selling its food out of vending machines on a college campus.
In addition to catering to consumers, many of these new prototypes also utilize new and ever-changing technology. Chuck E Cheese, for example, upgraded the technology at all of its restaurants in South Florida. Wendy’s announced technologically advanced, efficient changes to increase the number of orders a team can handle. Wingstop went so far as to name its new prototype the “Restaurant of the Future.”
Click through this gallery to see those new prototypes and more introduced in 2022.