Delivery apps like DoorDash, UberEats, and GrubHub have changed the restaurant business forever. They increase sales but also squeeze margins with commissions ranging from 15-30%. Meanwhile, a shrinking labor pool and the rise of kitchen automation has many kitchens doing more with fewer people. For foodservice operations looking to remain profitable, now more than ever, efficiency is the name of the game. An often overlooked facilitator of this efficiency is … automatic doors. Automatic doors at restaurant entrances keep foot traffic running smoothly, as eat-in customers, takeout orders, and delivery drivers all vie for access. In a fast-paced foodservice environment, every second counts. Automatic doors help contribute to operational efficiency by getting people in and out as seamlessly as possible. Quick service restaurants are also adding automatic doors to new “walk-through” drive-thru concepts. It replaces the standard window with a full doorway, through which team members can walk directly from the kitchen to waiting vehicles. Beyond their efficiency applications, automatic doors also improve overall accessibility, promote hygiene, and spur positive feelings about a brand. Foodservice also has a clear opportunity to improve entry accessibility—especially for older adults and people with disabilities—because customer expectations for touch-free, low-effort entry are already established across other public gathering places. In a comprehensive survey conducted by the American Association of Automatic Door Manufacturers (AAADM), respondents said the presence of automatic doors serves as a gauge of how much building owners and businesses care about them, and 98.9% of consumers who expressed a preference between automatic…
