Photo: GC Images
Taco Bell recently opened its first ever "Taco Bell Defy" prototype location in Minneapolis featuring "next-generation" technology, and a manless drive-thru experience. According to The U.S. Sun, the "advanced tech store," built in the Brooklyn Park neighborhood, features a drive-thru tubing system that delivers food prepared on the second story of the structure, down to the first story. Here, drive-thru customers and mobile order delivery drivers are able to grab the food from the tube (similar to that of a bank) rather than a physical person.
The two-story building, unlike anything the fast food chain has ever done before, features a dine-in restaurant and kitchen on the second story, and drive through lanes that run through the first story. The design makes for a quicker drive-thru experience and eliminates the need for human contact (unless desired, in which case the second story is open until midnight for patrons who prefer to eat in).
Jarret Persons, regional manager for Border Foods, explained how online orders are handled at the new Taco Bell Defy.
"The guest comes in, they pull up to the arrival monitor and they scan their phone. It checks in for orders prepared and assigns it to a lane. Once the order is assigned to the lane, we just verify the customer's name, we lift up the top of the lift, put the food in, push the two buttons and it's on its way."
Should operations continue successfully, Americans could see many more Taco Bell Defy locations scattered across the country in the near future!