![]() Shook sees the fast-food debate as emblematic of a clash between two uniquely American ideals: "It's a fight between personal fulfillment - I want my burger cheap and I want it now," he says, and "the common good - I want to eat it in a beautiful, walkable environment. Anti-drive-through sentiment "is like the litmus test of whether or not you're a true believer or an apostate" in planning, he jokes, while acknowledging that the industry, and likely the drive-through, will continue to play an outsize role in urban development for the foreseeable future. "For planners, the fault line with the fast-food world is the drive-through," says Terry Shook, the cofounder of the firm Shook Kelley, which specializes in urban planning services for the food and beverage industry. It's a model totally at odds with prevailing trends in urban areas, as well as the so-called town center developments springing up in suburban and peri-urban environments, find block-style, zero-lot-line layouts that preclude traditional drive-throughs. ![]() This is largely due to the industry's business model, which relies on drive-throughs to drive sales, which in turn drives a site design that requires frequent curb cuts, deep setbacks, and oceans of asphalt. Fast food and car culture would appear to be joined at the hip. ![]() It's a far cry from the stereotypical image of a fast-food restaurant - big, gaudy sign among a sea of big, gaudy signs stretching along a suburban arterial road with no sidewalks - which in many ways is the antithesis of what is today considered good urban planning. White Castle, considered the nation's first modern fast-food restaurant, opens in Wichita, Kansas. There is even beer on tap, including Beach Bell - a "Mexican-style amber lager," according to the company, produced by a local microbrewery "specifically to complement the Taco Bell menu."ĭubbed a Taco Bell "Cantina," the company has been rolling this new prototype out across the country, with plans to open 300 sites by 2022, all of them without a drive-through window. That year, the company opened a prototype restaurant in Newport Beach - an upscale community in Orange County - with murals by local artists, no drive-through, and enormous windows that crank open to let in the balmy air of the Pacific. This dining experience checks many of the boxes of the shop-local ethos, the long-ascendant trend, which, in 2017, Taco Bell decided it wanted to get in on. Most of the oceanfront was developed decades ago and is subject to strict zoning rules and design standards that maintain an eclectic, pedestrian-friendly environment. A SoCal beachside taqueria is likely independently owned, or perhaps part of a small regional chain. The typical vibe is airy and relaxed, with outdoor seating and splashes of sunset pastels on the walls and furnishings. Photo courtesy Taco Bell.Īlong the Southern California coastline, a surfer's paradise, it's not hard to find a walk-up taqueria to grab a quick, inexpensive, and relatively healthy Mexican meal after a day in the sun. The Taco Bell Cantina in Newport Beach, California, opened in 2017 and was the prototype for the chain's new concept: restaurants with beer on tap and no drive-through windows. Membership for Allied Professionals & CitizensĮducation, Work, and Experience Verification ![]()
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