Chick-fil-A Ushers In Its Next Drive-Thru Evolution

Five months after opening its first mobile pickup restaurant, Chick-fil-A is heading in yet another direction: up.

Today, Aug. 22, the brand will welcome its first customers at an all-new elevated drive-thru in Stockbridge, Ga.—just south of metro Atlanta. The concept boasts four drive-thru lanes, an elevated kitchen and a conveyor-driven meal transport system.

The kitchen is two times larger than a typical Chick-fil-A restaurant kitchen, notes a release, and the food conveyor system allows a meal to be delivered to a team member every six seconds. The four-lane drive-thru—two lanes of which will support mobile orders—can support two to three times more vehicles than a standard Chick-fil-A drive-thru.

There will be no dining room or dine-in services.

The establishment, owned and operated by Brett Lewis, will be open from 6 a.m.-10 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The unit will employ approximately 150 full- and part-time team members.

To support the Stockbridge/McDonough community, Chick-fil-A will: recognize 100 local heroes by providing them with free Chick-fil-A entrees for a year; donate $25,000 to Feeding America, to be distributed to local partners; participate in the Chick-fil-A Shared Table program, redirecting surplus food to local soup kitchens, shelters, food banks and nonprofits.

Chick-fil-A opened its very first drive-thru only concept in 1993, and says the importance of the drive-thru has continued to grow.

In other news, on Aug. 15, Chick-fil-A also announced Susannah Frost as its new president; she is the sixth person to hold the leadership role since the company’s founding in 1967.