The McAlister’s Deli in Ashburn is looking to add a drive-thru lane of sorts to its location at the Ashbrook Marketplace shopping center. That’s at the Lidl-anchored plaza at the intersection of Ashburn Village Boulevard and Russell Branch Parkway.
We’ve confirmed the plans with management, who tell us it won’t be a traditional drive-thru lane with a menu board and speaker. Instead, it will be a pick-up lane, where drivers can swing through to pick up food they have already ordered online.
This pick-up only version is what the new Chipotle in Leesburg is doing as well. As The Burn reported back in April, the new Chipotle at Compass Creek will be the first in the county to offer a “Chipotlane.” Customers place an order via the brand’s app, then come and go through the Chipotlane to pick up their food.
Adding a drive-thru lane to an existing restaurant isn’t common, but it’s not unheard of. The Panera by the Leesburg Premium Outlets added a drive-thru lane to its building a few years back.
Many restaurants have found that profits go up with with a drive-thru lane and, in this age of COVID, many people are looking for ways to minimize direct contact between employees and customers. Most of the Starbucks locations in Loudoun County have abandoned their “inline” locations in shopping centers and moved to free-standing buildings with dedicated drive-thru lanes.
We’re told the McAlister’s in Ashburn hopes to have the new pick-up lane ready to start serving customers this coming January.
Until they add traditional rye bread, they are not a “deli”
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