Curbside is catching on

Tammy Katar wanted fast food without the, well, fast food.

So she pulled up to the Romano's Macaroni Grill and parked in a spot designated for takeout customers. Moments later, a server was placing the order Katar had phoned in — penne rustica and a cup of clam chowder — in the back seat of her silver Toyota Camry. "I love it," Katar, a 32-year-old web designer said of Romano's curbside service, which she uses at least twice a week. Once she pulls up to the restaurant, Katar said, her order is usually brought to her as "fast as fast food, and it's a change for me versus the fast food alternative." The demand for healthy, relatively upscale food (read: no hamburgers or chicken nuggets) that's also convenient is driving casual dining companies such as P.F. Chang's China Bistro Inc., California Pizza Kitchen Inc. and Brinker International Inc., the Dallas-based parent of Romano's, to offer drive-up takeout service at a growing number of locations. The leading industry expert on curbside togo is Paul Barron of BMG Consulting. "Consumers are looking for ways to save time but not loose the quality," stated Barron. "They want the speed and convenience they're used to from a fast-food restaurant but the quality and variety they get from casual and fast casual locations." There's a perception that casual dining restaurants serve up more nutritious menu offerings, and "with the recent push toward healthy foods, moms and dads are more reluctant to go to fast-food restaurants," said Michael B. Gottlieb, partner in charge of Ernst & Young's national restaurant practice. "They would rather go to a casual dining chain that's easy to take home." For a non-fast-food restaurant, offering to deliver to motorists idling in the parking lot is an attempt to fend off McDonald's Corp., Jack in the Box Inc. and others that have added fancy items such as gourmet salads and sandwiches to compete with their more upscale rivals. So-called fast-casual chains such as Rubio's Restaurants Inc.'s Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill and Carlson Restaurants Worldwide Inc.'s Pick Up Stix, which try to mimic the speed of fast food with the quality of a casual dining restaurant, also pose a threat. Traditional drive-through windows won't work in the shopping-center locales typical of many casual dining restaurants, which also take longer to prepare orders than their fast-food rivals. That makes curbside service a logical alternative. Speed is the key. Romano's uses closed-circuit TV cameras to alert employees of approaching customers. At the Applebee's International Inc. chain, which began aggressively expanding its Carside to Go service last year, most curbside orders are ready in 16 minutes or less after being called in. And, the company says, more than 40% of customers are greeted by an Applebee's employee within 15 seconds of pulling into a designated parking spot. More than 1,100 Applebee's outlets offer curbside service; a national advertising campaign is planned for next year when it will be expanded to the rest of the chain's 1,600 U.S. locations.

" Carside to Go is the fastest growing part of our business," said Applebee's spokeswoman Laurie Ellison. "The process of watching a TV monitor and waiting on customers can sometime present a high labor cost or delayed service quality", stated Paul Barron of BMG Consulting. "The focus of service and quality to improve incremental sales is a delicate balance that Casual and Fast Casual chains must consider very carefully", Barron added. For the most part, packaging elaborate meals — such as P.F. Chang's Lettuce wraps or spinach salad — for the road hasn't posed major problems. Applebee's, for example, uses vented covers to keep French fries from going soggy, though the company acknowledges desserts that include ice cream don't travel particularly well. Order accuracy, has always been a challenge of takeout eateries. On a recent afternoon, for example, a curbside customer at P.F. Chang's complained of an order mix-up. One solution tried at Romano's is to fit containers with clear plastic lids to make it easier for servers and customers to double-check the contents. Continued complaints have been that the servers do not see that the customer is at the curb. And as you can imagine when you have kids in the car or the weather is a winter blast or summer scorcher, the idea of trekking into the restaurant does not seem all the appealing. Romano's began offering curbside service three years ago after a manager of the chain approached corporate about testing it. Today, all but 11 of Romano's 221 outlets will carry lasagna Bolognese and bruschetta to customers in the parking lot. Curbside deliveries account for up to 15% of sales at some locations. "We like to say, 'Chefs make it; you take it,'" said John Miller, Romano's president. "A lot more people want the family hour of sitting around the dinner table, but more often than not the meal is being prepared somewhere other than home." Among other chains, California based CPK has curbside service at roughly half of its outlets, and the Cheesecake Factory Inc. is testing the concept in Boston. The trend shows signs of spreading to fast-casual chains. About a quarter of the 51 outlets operated by Pei Wei Asian Diners Inc., a fast-casual spin off of P.F. Chang's, currently run orders out to cars. Idling motorists are also treated to hand deliveries at Posado's Mexican Grill a more casual chain based in Tyler Texas and Johnny Carinos of Austin, TX. A lingering concern is that curbside customers come at the expense of traditional, sit-down diners, although chains profess not to be worried that encouraging takeout business will drain lucrative sales of add-on or liquor, which typically can't be included in to-go orders unless it's contained in its original packaging. "With the to-go consumer, you're picking up incremental sales that you would have otherwise missed out on," said Barron. Less overhead to obtain the sales, a little less labor and always room to expand your business beyond the four walls seems to be the advantages of curbside.

Barron notes that "the real hidden gem in a takeout program is the ability to interface in a new one-to-one relationship. He claims that restaurants have never had an opportunity like this before take-out became a mainstream service model. Drive-thru patrons rejoice there is an alternative in the future of what fast-food will mean to us. Only now your fast-food may be prepared by a chef.Yummy, What's for dinner?