Why Hardly Anyone Eats Inside Fast Food Restaurants Anymore

Growing up in the '90s, sitting under buzzing lights with a tray of fries felt like an essential part of the fast food dining experience. But these days, those plastic booths are much more empty. In fact, according to the National Restaurant Association, nearly 75% of all restaurant meals in the United States are now consumed off the premises, which means most customers are taking their food to go. And that probably doesn't come as a surprise if you've driven past any fast food drive-thrus recently.

The shift we have seen here is about speed and convenience; between the rise of mobile ordering, curbside pickups, and delivery apps, grabbing a burger no longer has to involve sitting in to eat it. And with busy lives, many people just want to grab their food and get back to whatever else they're doing. Hitting up the restaurant with the quickest drive-thru line is much more convenient and fits the pace of modern life. If you plan on dining with family, it means no dealing with difficult toddlers misbehaving in the booth; for solo diners, it means enjoying your meal in privacy without any awkward social contact. And if you're a worker on the move, then it means you can grab coffee or have lunch in the car as you get from A to B. This level of off-premises dining has turned fast food into something that is even faster; it's a transaction, rather than an outing.

Technology has changed what people expect from restaurants, and fast food chains have evolved right alongside it. It was actually In-N-Out that changed the drive-thru scene forever thanks to the two-way speaker system, making it possible to order and go without stepping inside. Now, many decades later, the innovation has only gotten more advanced — did you know that the voices you're speaking to at the drive-thru could be AI? This technology can take orders faster and more accurately than human cashiers ever could; and so for many, the inside of a restaurant probably feels unnecessary at this point. Just a quick tap on an app replaces the entire ritual of walking in, queuing up, and then waiting for an order number to be called — which, especially among the younger generations, has become outdated.

Still, there is nostalgia attached to the old experience of eating your food inside a restaurant with the hum of the soda machine, the smell of fries, and rambunctious children playing around all under bright fluorescent lights. But those moments are increasingly dated, and could soon be a memory of the past as the fast food booth becomes replaced by a steering wheel or a couch.