A village official in Cary says America’s first drive-through-only Burger King that opened last week may be a game changer – for the community and restaurant chains.
The fast-food chain approached the Cary village board last year with the drive-through-only concept as a solution for working with more challenging development sites. That’s according to Brian Simmons, the village’s community development director.
“They were looking at this concept for sites that would be more challenging from a development standpoint but would still be able to give them a presence in communities where there might not be adequate land – or affordable land – to construct a larger restaurant,” Simmons said.
Simmons says about 80 percent of fast-food revenue comes from drive-throughs alone for fast-food restaurants like Burger King. He says overhead costs are lower with this type of business model if you cut out dining areas.
“I don’t know if every single fast-food company would go that direction, but I could see it being a developing trend in the real-estate market from that standpoint.”
Simmons also says the restaurant’s construction could lead to more business development along the Cary stretch of U.S. Route 14.
Simmons says there are about 15 employees total at the new location. Carl Campbell, Northern Illinois University economics professor, says this kind of model could lower both building and labor costs for fast-food restaurants, even if entry-level wages were raised for fast-food workers.