Fast-Food Restaurant Is a Good Neighbor

Issue

Summit began working with a very popular fast-food franchise in 2019. In 2020, the restaurant closed in-store dining in response to the pandemic. This made the pre-existing traffic and congestion issues significantly worse, with a two-lane drive through line wrapped around the store, parking area, and sometimes spilling out into roadways.

Goals

This particular fast-food chain places a very high priority on being a good neighbor. When the dining rooms were closed. Heightened congestion created the potential to negatively impact customer accessibility for surrounding businesses, as well as automotive and pedestrian safety.

Franchisees raised a red flag and the corporate office reached out to Summit for support:

• Identifying better patterns to improve the flow of traffic.
• Providing security to direct traffic. 

Solution

Summit advisors started by reviewing photos and other resources to identify bottlenecks and opportunities to improve traffic flow. This study, plus store sales, made it easy to determine when the franchisee would most benefit from support directing traffic. From there, the Summit assessment determined what other materials – markings, signage, cones, landscaping – could be changed or added to support a more streamlined and less obtrusive flow of traffic. Wherever possible, Summit considered opportunities to insert the store’s security personnel to minimize costs.

Once new traffic patterns were set and personnel was assigned and in place, traffic flow was noticeably smoother, safer and less obtrusive to neighbors. Summit stayed in close contact with store owners, managers and officers to ensure solutions were effective and every detail was covered. 

Store managers have been pleased with the results; some even took the time to drop their Summit account rep a line: