Taco Bell unveils its next-generation drive-thru with a major change to how you get your orders

TACO Bell has revealed a new store design featuring a next-generation drive-thru, changing how customers get their orders.

The fast food giant opened its advanced tech store, Taco Bell Defy, in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, about 12 miles north of downtown Minneapolis.

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The prototype location officially opened on June 7 and has since served the public through its two-story structure, per local NBC News outlet KARE 11.

It was designed by the company to combat slow drive-thru lines and order mishaps at standard Taco Bell locations during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Defy store features its operations on the second level of the structure, with four lanes moving under the building.

Each lane serves a purpose, with two being for mobile pickup orders, another for delivery drivers, and one other as a relatively standard drive-thru lane for hungry customers.

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Kiosks are set up for Taco Bell goers to choose what they want by talking to the staff on the second floor inside and paying immediately before driving forward to get their food.

Although, the most significant change at the Taco Bell Defy is how customers receive their orders.

They're lowered down from the second floor through a tubing system similar to one some might see in a bank drive-thru.

No cashier stands behind a sliding window — it's all without person-to-person contact.

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Jarret Persons, regional manager for Border Foods, the Minnesota-based franchise for Taco Bell, explained the process in-depth to the news outlet.

"The guest comes in, they pull up to the arrival monitor and they scan their phone. It checks in for orders prepared and assigns it to a lane," he said.

"Once the order is assigned to the lane, we just verify the customer's name, we lift up the top of the lift, put the food in, push the two buttons and it's on its way."

The lift for Taco Bell Defy, the first restaurant of its kind in the world, was also designed by Minnesota-based company Vertical Works.

It successfully lowers orders from the second-story kitchen down to awaiting customers.

Border Foods was the creative mind behind the entire project and set out with the goal of having service times to, at most, two minutes.

Around 230 Taco Bell locations are operated by the family-owned franchise across Minnesota and other Midwest states.

Customers can still get to the second-floor lobby if they want to eat inside, which is open until midnight, according to the location's official site.

The drive-thru lanes are open 24 hours, seven days per week.

The U.S. Sun has contacted Taco Bell for further information on the Defy location and if more will appear around the United States.

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For more related content, check out The U.S. Sun's coverage of Taco Bell's recent "biggest taco Tuesday ever" deal with a huge giveaway.

The U.S. Sun also has the story on how Taco Bell promised the launch of six new menu items later this month.

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