burger king's restaurant of the future features a touchless, post-pandemic design

burger king has unveiled its new restaurant redesign, with social distancing in mind, which delivers flexibility, innovation and convenience for ordering and delivery. dubbed the restaurant of the future, the new design features dedicated mobile order and curbside pick-up areas, both drive-in and walk-up order areas, a covered exterior main dining space, an enhanced drive-thru experience and sustainable design elements.

images by burger king

‘in march our in-house design and tech team accelerated new restaurant design plans and pushed the limits of what a burger king restaurant could be,’ comments josh kobza, restaurant brands international chief operating officer. ‘we took into consideration how consumer behaviors are changing and our guests will want to interact with our restaurants. the result is a new design concept that is attractive to guests and will allow our franchisees to maximize their return.’

overall, the burger king restaurant of the future aims to provide multiple ordering and delivery modes while physically leaving a footprint 60% smaller than previous structures. for example, guests will be able to park their cars under solar-powered canopies and order through QR codes, completely touches. for orders placed on the app, there will be dedicated parking slots where guest can let the restaurant know they’ve arrived. for those who arrive by foot or bike, pick-up lockers will be holding their food. the suspended kitchen and dining room reduces the footprint and makes it perfect for cities.

‘the designs we’ve created completely integrate restaurant functionality and technology,’ said rapha abreu, global head of design at restaurant brands international. ‘the restaurant of tomorrow merges the best functional technology with unique modern design to elevate our burger king guest experience. we designed the interior and exterior spaces like we had a blank sheet of paper, designing without preconceived notions of how a burger king restaurant should look.’