With The Rise Of Small Footprint Coffeeshops, Restaurant Brands Follow

Coffee leaders like Dutch Bros., with its 800 square feet locations, and Scooter’s Coffee, with its under 2-minute promise, have already shown how powerful the small-footprint model can be. Now, restaurant brands are testing walk-up counters and outdoor picnic tables. How far and how wide will this convenience trend go?

Why Small Footprint Operations Are Growing

There are a few key reasons why tiny restaurants and coffeeshops are taking off:

• Lower costs – Smaller buildings mean cheaper rent and fewer utilities.
• Faster service – With no indoor seating to manage, staff can focus on speedy prep and service.
• More location options – These shops can be built on smaller lots or placed in high-traffic areas more easily.
• Pandemic changes – COVID-19 trained customers to love drive-thrus and takeout. Give the people what they want!

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Why Small Shops Are Becoming More Popular For Consumers And Operators

Like we mentioned, the pandemic introduced all of us to new ways of coffee drinking and eating out. UberEats and DoorDash have made takeout easier than ever.

This small shop trend is reminiscent of the food truck explosion during the Great Recession (2007-2009). With unemployment and interest rates high, many aspiring chefs found success in food trucks. Emerging social media use, especially Twitter in those days, made food trucks an elusive, sought-after form of entertainment and dining.

Even long before then, food carts, lunch wagons, and drive-thrus had their moments time and again over the years. Consumers want ease, affordability, and fun, and sometimes that doesn’t require sitting indoors.

Today, almost 20 years after the Great Recession, the world is different, and yet many parallels can be seen. Market instability, rising costs, and a food/restaurant industry trend towards simple and small.

Convenience Is King

Customers want quick, easy access to food. If your brand doesn’t offer drive-thru or walk-up service, you could be missing sales.

Less May Be More

Cutting square footage doesn’t mean cutting quality. In fact, a smaller space can lead to a tighter, more efficient menu and smoother operations.

Outdoor Seating Can Be Enough

Picnic tables and shade umbrellas create a relaxed, low-maintenance dining option. It’s budget-friendly and gives customers a place to enjoy their meal without the overhead of a full dining room.

Something Different Is Appealing

Whether it’s an international flavor not often seen on a menu or a different kind of dining atmosphere, consumers are here for it.

Are Tiny Shops Right For All Restaurant Operators?

For fast-casual and QSR brands, the answer is often “yes.” Customers value speed and convenience above ambiance. Even full-service brands may consider smaller units – or ghost kitchens – in urban or suburban markets where space is limited.

Remember IHOP’s Tiny Kitchen? It was a limited-time experience, but the brand gained exposure and delighted consumers.

Several other restaurant brands are embracing the small footprint model—either with tiny standalone shops, drive-thru-only concepts, or off-premise-focused units. For example:

As of this writing (June 2025), Taco Bell Go Mobile is in a testing phase with one store in Georgia and another in Texas. These are smaller than traditional stores built to reduce wait times with dual drive-thru lanes and mobile pickup shelves. Chick-fil-A, McDonald’s, and others are also prototyping drive-thru-only and small format concepts.

Since 2020, Wow Bao has relied on kitchen pods and ghost kitchens to reach more markets with little physical space. In Colorado alone (our home state), there are currently 11 options for delivery and pickup orders.

Franklin Junction partners with existing kitchens to create virtual storefronts, avoiding the need for any new physical space.

REEF Kitchens may have peaked during the pandemic, but its tiny mobile kitchen pods placed in parking lots and on busy streets remain. National brands like Wendy’s, MrBeast Burger, and others rely on REEF.

Last but not least, we love the Sweetgreen “Infinite Kitchen” model. Much of the food assembly process is automated and offers only pickup with limited or no seating. This video showcases some of their food automation process.

What’s Next?

Expect more innovation. We’ll likely see more hybrid models that blend drive-thru, walk-up, and delivery-only concepts. Some may even include mobile-order pickup lockers, AI-powered ordering kiosks, and autonomous food and beverage-creating systems. (Like Costa Coffee is already doing.)

The bottom line: Small footprint doesn’t mean small thinking. For brands looking to expand with flexibility and speed, tiny shops may be the future.