McDonald’s opened a new drive-thru-centric restaurant in Los Angeles that could help fuel the chain’s domestic expansion in the coming years.
The “On the Go” location is the first of its kind in the U.S., and was revealed last week by the X user “McFranchisee” as well as a construction company that works with the Chicago-based burger giant and confirmed by the company.
The test location is a smaller prototype tailored for digital and drive-thru orders. There is no traditional lobby.
One of the bigger innovations is a group of food lockers exclusively for delivery orders. Lockers are increasingly common in restaurants and McDonald’s uses them in international markets, but this is the first test of them in the U.S.
Mobile orders, meanwhile, are picked up in a separate window.
1st ever…
— McFranchisee (@McFranchisee) December 13, 2024
This week a @McDonalds in Los Angeles (I wonder why…🤔) opened up the first “on the go” $mcd.
It appears to be:
Drive thru focused
No lobby
Mobile pickup window
McDelivery lockers
The lockers are a big deal because they have not been approved for the US… pic.twitter.com/sFXHYJbUgT
This isn’t McDonald’s first test of a drive-thru-focused prototype. The company opened a digital-focused location in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2022.
Such locations could be key for a chain that is eager to open new locations in the U.S. McDonald’s has been mostly closing locations for the past decade, but it has started ramping up new development over the past two years.
The chain has opened 39 restaurants so far this year, giving it 13,484 at the end of the third quarter. Drive-thru-focused locations could enable franchisees to locate units in key markets where traditional real estate is tougher to come by.
Most fast-food sales right now come through the drive-thru, mobile order or delivery, making dining rooms less important.
And real estate sites that can handle drive-thru traffic remain valuable and difficult to find. Drive-thru-only locations can enable chains to fit in smaller, cheaper and more available sites. As such, several chains are testing them right now, including giants Chick-fil-A, Burger King and Taco Bell.
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