12 Fast Food Restaurants That Might Be Losing Their Dining Rooms Soon

Many of your favorite fast-food restaurants are building no-dining-room versions. The change isn't surprising. How often do you pass by fast-food restaurants these days without seeing anyone dining inside? Meanwhile, the line of cars reaches all the way to the street. If you decide to dine in, you almost feel as if you're doing something wrong because you're the only person inside who is not an employee. With so many people switching to ordering through the drive-through window or swinging by for a quick digital order pickup, many of the top fast-food chains are experimenting with removing dining rooms from their future building designs. This impending change doesn't bode well for those who prefer to eat our fast-food as hot as possible without resorting to eating it in the car.

We've discovered 14 fast-food restaurants that either have plans for drive-through-only or dining-room-free restaurants, or who have already opened locations without dining rooms. As you can imagine, places like Chick-fil-A are doing far better with this model than places we don't normally think of driving through, like Chipotle. Is this a change that we want? Maybe. After all, fast-food dining rooms have tables and chairs that are notoriously dirty because the employees don't have time to stop and clean them. However, only time will tell if the new dining-room-free restaurant models will eventually be in the majority rather than the minority.

Del Taco is also jumping on the no-dining room trend. While the West-coast favorite is rolling out a few new digital-friendly designs, one of them is a 1000-square-foot version to support drive-through and digital-order pickup only. Del Taco was supposed to build its first Fresh Flex drive-through-only location in New Mexico in 2022. However, it doesn't seem to have materialized yet.

The smaller locations will have two lanes with some unique features. Those who have already made a digital order can simply scan a QR code to get food from a locker in a separate lane rather than having to wait in line behind people needing to make an order. Del Taco has also made considerations for those who don't want to eat their food cold since there's no dining room. The restaurant will still have a small parking lot where you can sit and eat your meal in peace rather than on the go.

KFC has been paying special attention lately to how quickly it can get customers through the drive-through. In fact, it ditched five menu items in early 2023 just so it could streamline its menu to get people through the drive-through even faster. The drive-through is a big deal at KFC because only 30% of its customers are dining inside anymore (via Business Insider). In 2022, Intouch Insight revealed that KFC customers were getting through the drive-through line faster than at any other restaurant. However, they're still the fast-food restaurant most likely to get your order wrong.

KFC is offering two new designs for future franchisers, both of which prioritize their drive-through windows. Like other restaurants, KFC is experimenting with one Express version with no dining room. The smaller option will only take up 1300 square feet, which is perfect for franchisers who want to open in a city where it's harder to find space or where acreage is more expensive. The first was supposed to open in 2021, but none of the potential locations — including Indianapolis and West Palm Beach — have them yet.

While it's nice to see which pastries and bagels are still available when you visit a Panera, that doesn't immediately disqualify the chain from making locations that are more geared toward to-go orders. Panera traditionally offers an inviting atmosphere where customers feel free to linger to chat, work, or unwind in cavernous dining areas. However, all the space in a 5000-square-foot restaurant is wasted in larger city locations where people are more likely to grab their food to go. Plus, half of Panera's customers now prefer making digital orders (via QSR).

For those places where to-go orders represent the majority of their sales, Panera has decided to try out a design called Panera To Go. You'll find it in larger cities where the average customer dashes in and out quickly. You can still go inside to order and pick up digital orders inside the restaurant. However, the huge dining room has disappeared in favor of a few seats at the counter. The first Panera To Go opened in New York City in 2022, with plans to open more in other cities in 2023.

Schlotzsky's new Design 1000 restaurant design is a 1000-square-foot location that contains a drive-through lane, a mobile-pickup lane, and a walk-up window. Oddly enough, delivery drivers and people coming in to get mobile orders have to pick up their orders on the passenger side of the vehicle. Like most of the other drive-through-centric redesigns, it has no dining room. However, Schlotzsky's is also trying out a similar design with an additional 800 feet devoted to a handful of tables where customers can eat inside. The first 1000-foot version opened in Oklahoma City in 2022.

For now, it's all experimental. New franchise owners can choose from the original 3300-square-foot design or the two smaller, cheaper options. Schlotzsky's interim chief brand officer Shelley Harris said, "It'll be interesting to see where that plays out as real estate gets more expensive and more growth comes from the drive-thru from customers more interested in eating off-premise than on-premise" (via Restaurant Business Online). With the Design 1000 option now available, future franchise owners can buy smaller lots with as little as 0.6 to 0.75 acres rather than needing nearly a full acre of space.

At the newest "restaurant of the future" Wingstop locations, you can't pay with cash when you walk in, and you can't sit down. However, you can order at the counter or scan a QR code to pick up your digital order. Wings are too messy to eat in public gracefully, so 80% of customers were already picking up their wing orders to go before the Covid-19 pandemic changed the way we dine (per Business Insider). Now, with almost no customers coming inside to eat, it made sense for Wingstop to create a carryout-only model. The first in the U.S. opened in Dallas, Texas, in November of 2021.

Since the new Wingstop only needs space for a kitchen, counter, pickup orders, and a small lobby, it's only 1300 square feet. ​​The restaurant design is still in a flux and experimentation phase, so the company has made all the pieces to be modular to test out what design configuration works best. "We believe we can go even smaller," Wingstop's chief growth officer, Marisa Carona told Business Insider. "This can help when we're looking at high rent and areas with high population density but little room for a large restaurant."

While most fast-food restaurants trying out dining-room-free models made the decision as a result of post-2020 customer order changes, Chick-fil-A pioneered a no-dining model much earlier. Back in 2018, Chick-fil-A announced they would test out locations in Nashville, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky, without dining rooms or drive-throughs. The locations contained a 4200-square-foot kitchen with a 600-square-foot area to walk up to make an order or pick up catering, delivery, and mobile orders. The new design would eliminate drive-through lines spilling out into traffic and didn't need runners outside taking orders.

Chick-fil-A has more cars in its drive-through line on average than any other fast-food restaurant. Thus, some Chick-fil-A locations have been drive-through-only for years. However, it's only been since 2021 that the chain has embraced the model with more new redesigns. In 2021, several Chick-fil-As closed their dining rooms when they didn't have enough people on the schedule to work the front registers. Additionally, several new Chick-fil-A remodels in 2021 contained limited seating or eliminated the dining room altogether while keeping the drive-through. So, with the drive-through continuing to be a big source of business, it seems the chain is heading more toward concepts without dining but with drive-throughs. After all, they've gotten the drive-through down to an art — getting each car through the lane faster than any other restaurant in 2020, 2021, and 2022 (via Intouch Insight).