Canopies to comfort workers, cut waits at Schaumburg Chick-fil-A drive-through
More than one restaurant brand has learned how to expedite drive-through waits by having workers outside handling order-taking, payment and delivery.
But in bustling Schaumburg, Chick-fil-A seems to be cornering the market in looking after these employees through the implementation of canopies equipped with fans for hot weather and heaters for the cold.
Village trustees this week approved the construction of canopies at the Chick-fil-A at 935 E. Golf Road. The work is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
“I know they're anxious to roll this out,” Schaumburg Community Planner Marisa Krawiec said. “We had been working with them for a couple months.”
Though having outdoor workers helping speed up the drive-through lanes is not a new idea, Krawiec said she has not heard of any other restaurant employing the use of climate-controlled canopies.
But she's come to understand that Chick-fil-A has been rolling them out across the country since 2017.
For the Schaumburg pitch, a photo mock-up was created of the canopies that would be in place at the Golf Road restaurant.
Now there's a dual-lane drive-through for ordering on the west side of the building that then merges into a single lane before the pickup window on the east side.
The canopy on the west side will cover an area of 1,242 square feet to accommodate up to six employees equipped with tablets to expedite ordering.
The canopy on the east side will cover an area of 674 square feet where up to two employees will assist with the delivery of orders.
In speaking before Schaumburg's zoning board of appeals last month, Frank Gawdun, of Esencia Architecture in Tempe, Arizona, testified that his experience with one of the canopy systems at a Chick-fil-A in Chandler, Arizona, was that it was able to cut a peak-time wait in half.
Gawdun also told zoning board members that a similar request for Schaumburg's Chick-fil-A location at 90 Barrington Road could be expected among the 250 proposals he plans to make around the country in the next year.