ATLANTA – Krystal Restaurants has a new restaurant design in mind and plans for testing it in the company’s backyard, Atlanta. The new location will be built within minutes of Krystal’s Atlanta headquarters.

The restaurant prototype features a sleek contemporary interior and exterior with interactive lighting, a smaller footprint, and design elements leaning heavily toward off-premises dining services such as “grab-and-go” pick up and takeout. The design also features a double-lane drive-thru, a walk-up window for ordering, and a pickup area for online orders and third-party delivery instead of a dining room.

Tom Stager, president of Krystal Restaurants who was hired less than a year ago to turn around the business, recognized the brand’s growth in late night food orders was increasingly important to a successful concept, and is integral in Krystal’s off-premises strategy.

“Throughout the years, we have built our reputation on offering hot, fast, and friendly service paired with our highly craveable menu items,” Stager said. “The new prototype offers the stage for our teams to continue this legacy into the future of the brand, while staying current with the needs of customers.

“As we step into the next phase of the company, we are also expanding our presence by finalizing new franchising deals around the country with restaurants looking for smaller footprint concepts that can deliver on all-dayparts — breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night,” he said.

The new prototype also features a more streamlined kitchen with a minimized footprint created by optimizing kitchen flow. Soft and hardscape design elements enhance brand identity.

“This new design will drive labor costs down and increase speed of service, which ultimately will provide a better experience to our guests,” said Tommy Mulkey, vice president of Real Estate and Construction.

Stager added that the new prototype paves the way for the Krystal brand to grow into more communities.

“The restaurant prototype speaks to our commitment to increasing efficiencies to serve our guests better while enabling franchise partners to maximize their investment,” he said.