Dive Brief:

• Panera Bread is adding drive-thru pickup as an option at its store nationwide, the brand announced Wednesday.
• Guests who order through the restaurant’s app or website can select drive-thru pickup as an option, then give the name for the order at the speaker and pick up their orders without leaving the car, according to the press release.
• A number of fast casual and casual chains have added mobile order pickup features over the last two years, though most keep traditional drive-thru and mobile pickup channels as separate windows or lanes.

Dive Insight:

Panera said drive-thru pickup would be faster and more convenient for customers. A majority of Panera’s sales come through digital channels, the company said in the press release, including orders on its app, website or through in-store kiosks. Last year, Panera added dine-in mobile ordering as an additional digital option.

By adding pickup as an option during the digital ordering process without adding a separate lane or a new window, Panera is able to deploy the feature nationally without significant construction or renovation. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how much the pickup option was expected to speed up its drive-thru times. 

Chris Correnti, the company’s SVP of channels and guest experience, said the drive-thru pickup feature was a natural combination of drive-thru’s convenience and Panera’s popular Rapid Pick-Up service, which allowed guests to retrieve digital orders from shelves in-restaurant.

Most rival chains have opted for separate drive-thru lanes for traditional or digital pickup service, though some brands are focusing on drive-thru pickup only. Chipotle, for example, has relied on its Chipotlane pickup lanes rather than traditional drive-thrus, as pickup speeds up the throughput of cars by shifting the ordering from the restaurant’s drive-thru window to a customer’s digital device.

Chick-fil-A, famously plagued by long drive-thru lines, began piloting express digital pickup lanes separate from its traditional drive-thru channels at roughly 60 stores last summer. Sweetgreen has likewise focused on digital pickup in its drive-thru development, opening a restaurant with a drive-thru pickup in Illinois in November. Wendy’s, rather than add pickup to its drive-thru, is testing an underground delivery system to bring orders to parking spots.