Is Your Site Right?

We've discussed the growing drive thru trend before (shameless promo here!) but an under-discussed aspect of that growth is the sudden and overwhelming demand for drive thru available locations or pad sites with room for this luxury. Restaurants, both minor and nationwide chains, have been seeking out more of these sites than ever before. With drive thrus becoming the newest craze in the industry, being on the right side of the road has never been more important. By “right side”, we mean both the convenient side of the road and the actual right side. Please don't drive on the left side of the road.

Site Selection Made Easy

During the pandemic, stores with drive thru lanes saw a 25% increase in sales compared to stores without. While that number had been growing for some time, it remains true for many retailers, even outside the food categories. Coffee shops are one of the biggest merchants for these types of locations, so let's use REGIS Online to see how important the “right side” is.

I drive past this location on my commute every day. Since Black Rock Coffee Bar and Dutch Bros draw similar crowds (Portland wannabes that hate on Starbucks as a part-time job) I've always wondered why they are almost directly across from each other here. Looking at the traffic counts for the Monday through Thursday morning, we can see a clear difference in the number of cars driving on the northbound highway versus the southbound highway. Similarly, there's a large number of cars on 90th St. compared to the more local street, named Via Linda. Since this is a densely populated residential area with most people commuting to work, we can assume they are going toward the highway for the northbound entrance.

I usually don't grab anything on my commute to work, but if I were to stop for a coffee, I would absolutely go to Black Rock over Dutch Bros. Since Black Rock's entrance and exit is on the “right” side in my direction of travel, I would only be 10 minutes late to work, instead of my usual 5 minutes. Going to Dutch Bros would require a U-turn at a busy intersection and a significant wait for traffic to slow down so I could cross the street and get back on the road. Dutch Bros is great, but if the average commuter is anything like me, I'm sure they would choose similarly, purely out of convenience. And, there's no coffee on the planet worth disappointing your boss for (Let's see if this earns me any brownie points!)

But that's not the only factor in this game. With more people working from home, delivery times are of the utmost importance, especially in the hot summer months of Arizona. Postmates delivers for some Dutch Bros locations, so the easier it is to get back on the road - towards the residential area - the better off everyone will be. With a 5-minute Drive Time set for this location, we can see an ideal delivery trade area. This shaded area stops before the next closest Dutch Bros locations, limiting the cannibalization of these stores. Black Rock also has delivery options through third-party apps, but at least at this location, most delivery drivers would have a harder time getting to their destination. It seems like someone did their homework here…

Using Traffic Data For Good

This location has been through multiple redevelopments over the past 5 years, while I've lived nearby. Using REGIS Online has allowed me to answer a ton of weird commercial real estate questions, (more than I might be willing to admit) and see trends that I can expect to come to my community. The commercial real estate industry had to adjust to a lot of these changes over the past few years, and it's pretty easy to assume there are even more to come in the future. As retail customers change their habits, so must we. That's why data like traffic counts can be so valuable, even outside of convenient fast food and quick delivery times. •

Last Modified June 24, 2022