Some Chick-fil-A locations have little-known conveyor belts for food inside the kitchens – here's how they work
Mike Stewart/Associated Press
- A popular TikTok video shows a behind-the-scene conveyer belt inside one Chick-fil-A location.
- The chain says they are in a few locations to make drive-thrus safer and more efficient.
- Burger King is implementing conveyor belts, and other chains might soon follow.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Chick-fil-A just revealed that some restaurants have conveyor belts to transport food meant for the drive-thru after a viral TikTok showed the system, which came as a surprise to many fans.
The video, which has 2.4 million views, shows Chick-fil-A bags moving along a conveyor belt on the kitchen ceiling to workers that will then serve the food. "Our kitchen sends the food to the window using a conveyor belt to make things move faster," the Chick-fil-A worker who posted the video wrote over the post.
Conveyor belts are used in about 30 restaurants, or 1% of the chain's 2,600 locations, a spokesperson told Insider.
The chicken chain has used conveyor belts since at least 2006. At the first double drive-thru Chick-fil-A, food was delivered to the far lane through a conveyor belt, according to a Houston Chronicle article from the time.
"The food is prepared in the regular kitchen and placed in a basket hanging from an elaborate conveyor belt that delivers your chicken sandwiches, fries, salads, breakfast burritos – even ice cream cones – across the roof to the second drive-through booth," Ken Hoffman reported. He said that the process took only five seconds, so food arrived hot.
Hoffman called the conveyor belt a "gyroscopic device" that "never sways or tips over."
A Texas location shared two videos on Facebook showing a closer look at how the conveyor belt works. The San Angelo, Texas restaurant posted this video in 2015 with the caption "Ever wonder how your food gets to you across the parking lot and to our kiosk? Wonder no more. Here's what we like to call the "customer's eye" view."
A week later, the restaurant followed up with another video, showing the "chicken's eye view" of the conveyor belt.
"It's mostly used horizontally at restaurants with a [second] lane drive-thru kiosk and vertically at a few urban locations that have multiple stories," the spokesperson told Insider. "The goal is to make Team Members' jobs safer, easier and more efficient by reducing any need to cross in front of cars or walk up and down stairs in order to serve guests quickly."
While many fans commented how impressed they were by the conveyor belt system, sometimes it goes wrong. A Reddit post from earlier this year shared a video of a bag falling off the conveyor belt, dumping fries all over the floor.
Chick-fil-A is known for its hugely popular drive-thrus, which have only become more important since COVID-19 closed dining rooms. The chicken brand's drive-thrus can get so busy that they create traffic and even legal issues in some locations. Chick-fil-A has installed double drive-thru lanes at some locations, with plans to continue adding more.
Chick-fil-A has also started taking orders virtually through a tablet. Chick-fil-A confirmed to Insider that this is essentially a tech-savvy twist on having workers walk out to take orders. The tablet allows customers to see workers face-to-face, without having to wait for them to reach the actual building.
Burger King released a concept that would place burger conveyor belts in restaurants in late 2020. Experts say conveyor belts will likely appear in more restaurants in the near future.
Do you have a story to share about a retail or restaurant chain? Email this reporter at mmeisenzahl@businessinsider.com.