Picking Up Curbside: How to Improve Your Restaurant’s Curbside Service and Why It’s Here to Stay

How do we love thee, curbside pick-up? Let us count the ways.There’s the table-wedged-in-the-doorway approach, where one brave soul in full PPE hands off an order over a barricade of restaurant furniture. There’s also the call-us-when-you-get-here model, where the order scoots out just in time to be dropped through a rear window or popped trunk. One of my favorites is the shelf-on-the-sidewalk play, where labeled bags are simply left unattended for anybody to claim (hopefully the diner gets there first).

Traditionally, curbside has been more of a sideline player, more a bat boy than shortstop. It was a convenience added to the playbook to assist customers with difficulty getting out of their car or to keep larger orders from blocking up a drive thru. “Umm, 15 grilled sandwiches, extra hot sauce? Sure, pull around front and we’ll run it out to you!” But during this global health crisis, restaurant behavior reorganized itself, promoting curbside to captain of the team—and…