Restaurants redesign for safety

Wendy’s has been testing restaurant layouts that shrink or remove the dining room and push more orders to drive-thru, pickup and delivery windows. (wendys.com) The company introduced its “Global Next Gen” prototype in August 2022 and said new traditional builds would start using it that fall. The design added delivery windows, mobile-order shelves, dedicated pickup parking and a reworked kitchen. (prnewswire.com) In August 2023, Wendy’s said the newer format could handle up to 400 times the digital order capacity of older layouts. The company also said more than 200 restaurants with the design were slated to open through 2024. (wendys.com) The shift tracks how fast-food chains now make sales. Restaurant Business reported in 2022 that Wendy’s was getting about 10% of global sales from digital channels, while drive-thru accounted for roughly three-quarters of quick-service traffic across the industry. (restaurantbusinessonline.com) Wendy’s kept leaning on that model in 2025 and 2026 as its U.S. business weakened. The company reported U.S. same-restaurant sales fell 11.3% in 2025, even as it added 157 net new restaurants globally and ended the year with 7,397 locations. (irwendys.com) Executives have framed the redesign as an operations move, not a public safety campaign. Wendy’s materials describe it as a way to speed orders, separate delivery drivers from the main line, cut wait times and improve returns for franchisees. (wendys.com) That makes the current debate less about one prototype than about what urban fast-food stores are becoming. Smaller dining rooms, more pickup windows and more off-premise orders mean fewer customers inside and more of the business handled through glass, apps and cars. (fastcompany.com) Wendy’s has not, in the materials reviewed here, publicly listed a companywide “no-entry” program for specific cities or tied a named prototype to crime rates in Oakland, Seattle, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. What it has documented is a multiyear move toward digital-first restaurants built around convenience, throughput and lower-friction pickup. (wendys.com)