Sweetgreen and Shake Shack are going all in on drive-throughs. They’re not alone

Crystal Weintraub, co-owner of 1802 Roasters, serves a customer via a converted drive-through setup using the side door of the Los Angeles coffee shop. “The stores that had drive-throughs during this pandemic, their business went off the charts,” Sigal said, citing data his company collected. “We’ve been getting a lot of customers from the Starbucks down the street” who notice that the car line is shorter at 1802 Roasters, co-owner Christian Degracia said. “Although the shop wasn’t built to be a drive-through, it was definitely fun operating it as one.” The popularity of drive-throughs in a pandemic shouldn’t surprise anyone, Bay Area real estate consultant David Greensfelder said. It gives them another option.” Rolling out new plans for drive-throughs during a pandemic may also be a wise business move for operators concerned about whether local officials will approve them, Greensfelder said.