Coronavirus accelerates change
Orlando restaurants get smaller, add takeout windows as businesses adjust to pandemic
Mike Watson ordered his steak bowl at a recently reopened Metro Diner by scanning a QR code on the table with his phone.
The updated restaurant now lets guests place their orders on their phones by scanning the code at each table. Those who don’t want to go digital can order at the register.
There’s also a new pickup window for Uber Eats and DoorDash drivers or customers who don’t want to come inside the restaurant near the University of Central Florida.
“You can order whenever you’re ready and not have to wait on anybody,” Watson said. “It was easy to do.”
Watson was dining at the first Metro Diner Express model for the chain that started in Jacksonville in 1992, debuting as the coronavirus pandemic accelerates changes in how some restaurants both look and function. Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi, based in Orlando, also is changing future designs to have smaller dining rooms and include pickup windows.
San Diego-based restaurant analyst John Gordon said the restaurants are foreseeing that the shifts since the pandemic
started are going to continue.
“Contactless is hot,” Gordon said. “They want to try to make their restaurants as efficient as possible.”
Bento changes plans
The Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi planned to open late next year at Disney’s Flamingo Crossings off State Road 429 near Animal Kingdom was going to be 3,000 square feet. Now, it’s been pared down to about 2,300 square feet, said Bento founder and owner Johnny Tung.
“The need for large dining rooms and so much interaction is going to be limited because of coronavirus,” Tung said.
The Orlando-based chain, started by brothers Jimmy and Johnny Tung in Gainesville in 2002, is designing new locations with pickup windows, too, Johnny Tung said.
But those changes won’t be included in some of the restaurants opening soon, such as the 3,000-square-foot Lake Nona Bento, which already
had its government permits.
“For fast casual, the trend was already going towards a lot more delivery and carryout because of the rise of Uber Eats like last year and the year before,” Tung said. “The timeline just went a lot faster.”
Smaller restaurants also mean savings, Gordon said, not only on rent for less square footage, but on utilities and staffing to clean the larger space.
Gordon said the changes almost have to lead to some reduction in labor but restaurants do need to provide a sit-down area.
“There will be mothers and families and there will be senior citizens that will probably enjoy some dinein capability,” Gordon said.
But he said restaurants are still in bad shape in terms of recruiting workers.
“We still have a shortage of employees,” Gordon said.
Olive Garden talks curbside
The pandemic also could affect how Darden Restaurants, the Orlando-based owner of Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and other chains, thinks about its spaces.
Before the pandemic, the company was focusing on improving its to-go experience with spaces for takeout.
For instance, the Olive Garden near Orlando Fashion Square has a dedicated to-go area with a separate entrance.
In a June earnings call, CEO Gene Lee discussed curbside pickup but noted the company didn’t know how that would continue when the pandemic ends.
“We’ve got to really go through that discovery process. I think the big work that needs to be done is to think about what do we need to do inside the box to better support and stage curbside, if it’s going to be that big part of our business,” Lee said. “Up until recently, in our existing restaurants, we’ve been doing remodels to create capacity for inside pickup. Now we’ve got to really relook at that as we go forward.”
He added Darden would look to build flexibility in its dining rooms while thinking about barriers in case something like this pandemic happened in the future.
“I’m really excited about the opportunity to build restaurants,” Lee said.
Metro Diner Express
Changes at the University Boulevard Metro Diner started in late March, shortly after the pandemic began, and the restaurant reopened at the end of July.
The chain has restaurants operating its traditional model across Central Florida, but it will look to grow the express model in smaller footprints, said chief operating officer Stan Goodman.
“Guests are going to want to eat differently,” Goodman said.
For the 47-year-old Watson, in Orlando on business from Hickory, North Carolina, ordering his lunch at Metro Diner through his phone was better than the old style of table service.
“You can do it at your own speed,” he said.