The lap blankets, heat lamps and tent-like enclosures will only carry a restaurant so far in the winter. What restaurants really need are drive-thrus.
Or at least something approximating one.
Vacant restaurant locations with drive-thrus are selling and leasing fast in the new coronavirus pandemic, according to commercial real estate brokers.
Although usually associated with national chains and fast-food restaurants, the drive-thru window is now appealing to independently run restaurants. And restaurants without that option are taking a hard look at their physical space and, if they’re lucky, using a back entrance or window to facilitate handoffs for takeout service.
Given the pandemic and health concerns about interior space, more customers want a contact-free option for their food – whether they choose a fast-food restaurant or a traditional, sit-down one.
In Rhode Island, brokers say they’re being asked to identify locations that have drive-thrus or the potential for them. It’s a tough search, said Michael Giuttari, president and founder of MG Commercial Real Estate Services Inc.
“You can’t find them,” he said.
So, restaurants are creating them. One of his clients is Plant City Providence LLC, the vegan food emporium that opened last year in Providence with three levels of dining. Despite the pandemic, the restaurant is doing well.
This year, it’s expanding with several new locations in Rhode Island. All of them will have drive-thrus, according to Giuttari.
In September, Plant City received permission from officials in Middletown to add a drive-thru window for a new location at 619 Main Road. The former Papa Gino’s restaurant had been vacant since 2018. Plant City has hired Vision 3 Architects, of Providence, to help it transform the former pizza restaurant to its image.
Kevin Casey, vice president of sales for Sweeney Real Estate & Appraisal, said he’s getting more inquiries from restaurateurs who want to decamp from their traditional spaces with a lot of interior space – and get into smaller footprints with a drive-up.
But other than a few empty standalone banks, there isn’t much space out there for that, he said.
‘The restaurant business is full of ... people who figure out how to get it done.’
PAUL CONFORTI, Red Stripe owner
Across the state, restaurant chains are competing for what’s available.
In Warwick, Giuttari said two restaurant companies were interested in a single property last month.
Five Guys Burgers & Fries purchased the site at 63 Airport Road, the former 4Corners Coffee location. “They bought it for the drive-thru,” he said.
The other competitor, regional pizza-restaurant chain PieZoni’s, preferred to lease the building and the owner wanted to sell, Giuttari said.
Cities are also seeing requests for drive-thru additions and expansions.
In Providence, a Burger King franchise in September received permission from a city board to add a second drive-thru lane for its restaurant in the Valley neighborhood, at 445 Promenade St.
Given the pandemic, restaurants are all looking for space for contact-free service and social distancing. Eateries that can make that work have a better chance of survival in a health crisis that has hit the industry particularly hard as many customers are avoiding interior rooms where diners aren’t wearing masks.
Red Stripe, a popular new-American-style restaurant in the Wayland Square neighborhood of Providence, created its own version of a drive-thru window for customers who want takeout with limited contact.
The restaurant has a back entrance with enough space to allow cars to drive in. Patrons call the restaurant from the car when they arrive, and the order they placed online is run out the back door.
The restaurant, which is not allowed to use its bar because of COVID-19 restrictions, has turned that surface into a staging area for takeout.
Before the pandemic, takeout accounted for less than 5% of the restaurant’s sales, said owner Paul Conforti. Now, 25% of Red Stripe’s sales are made through the back door.
To limit cross-traffic, he’s closed off that back door for customer access. Only restaurant workers use it. During dinner hours, there is a mini-rush for takeout.
“We reacted quickly because the customers communicated with us that this is what they wanted,” Conforti said. He expects that portion of sales to only increase in the winter, when he is no longer able to provide sidewalk dining, or open his front windows.
“The customer has spoken that they’re looking for this capability,” he said.
His restaurant would not work with a traditional drive-thru, with an ordering feature, because the Red Stripe kitchen cooks to order. But he appreciates that others, such as Plant City, are making that work.
“The restaurant business is full of entrepreneurs and people who figure out how to get it done,” he said.
Many restaurants, even those lacking drive-thrus, have been able to make use of windows for takeout to facilitate contactless service, and cities are providing them with that flexibility, said Dale Venturini, the CEO and president of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association.
She cited as examples Basta on Broad, on the Cranston side of Pawtuxet Village, and Tallulah’s Taqueria LLC, in the Fox Point neighborhood of Providence.
“Several restaurants have been creative because the cities are allowing them to be creative,” she said.
Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Macdonald@PBN.com.
