Drive-Thru Trends To Watch In 2026

It may seem harder that new trends keep coming ever year. Granted, it often takes time to figure out how to make trends provide the most value for drive-thru restaurants and their customers. But every year some trends make big breakthroughs.

Trends that make significant changes add a lot of value to restaurants and their customers. They have also earned a reputation for improving the drive-thru business in many ways. These include:

- Technology integration has made it popular to use AI order-taking.

- Enhanced technology uses tablets for ordering to improve service and reduce wait times. 

- Automated systems help speed food preparation and reduce time in drive-thru lanes.

- Different lane designs accommodate mobile and delivery orders.

- Restaurants and customers are putting more value on comfort foods.

- Health-consciousness, energy sustainability and environmental packaging are capturing more support throughout the industry 

Many of our trends at CE have been around for several reasons. We aim to help our customers mind the store, not their equipment. We help them take care of the equipment with our Drive-Thru Protection Plan. We help them minimize repair costs by providing free inbound shipping on repairs and providing a 4-month warranty on all repairs.

Our goal is to provide fast, high-quality drive-thru repairs and do it right the first time. Call us at 877-731-0334 and we will tell you how. Best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year!