Modern Market Eatery Continues To Innovate, Elevating the Concept Over Competitors

Modern Market Eatery, the fast-casual restaurant franchise with an elevated, chef-inspired approach, continues to innovate and evolve to stay at the forefront of the industry. The brand, founded in 2009, has embraced technology and a fresh approach since its birth, but as the industry has evolved and consumer demands shifted, it has demonstrated an ongoing willingness to adapt. This has allowed it to stay ahead of the competition and remain in line with the most current demand of consumers.

“Everything we do — from the culinary talent, menu items and recipes to the drive-thru, third-party integration and dual-sided line — is meant to create a better experience for both team members and guests,” said Chris Cheek, chief development officer. “The brand has been advanced since its inception in 2009 because it was founded by two friends with no restaurant experience and a strong focus on a youthful, technology-forward approach. They tackled a lot of the innovations early on, and because of that, we’re one of the more innovative restaurant concepts.”

Cheek explains that, while Modern Market Eatery is advanced, its ongoing innovation and evolution has focused on meaningful changes, not just adding new technologies for the sake of making an update. Rather than embracing things like robots and all-encompassing artificial intelligence, Modern Market Eatery has focused on streamlining the guest experience by enhancing its third-party integration, introducing a new drive-thru model and reimagining what the back-of-house can look like.

“We’re consistently working on integrating orders from third-party platforms, but our biggest innovations recently are the dual-sided line and opening of our first drive-thru location,” Cheek said.

The design featuring a dual-sided line was launched to optimize the preparation process.

“In any restaurant, when you place an order, that order is printed, goes down a line and makes its way to the end,” Cheek said. “A lot of times, that ‘line’ is up against the wall, so people can only work on one side. We’ve reimagined what our line can look like to design the restaurants in a way that allows team members to work on both sides. This way, we can have one side dedicated to dine-in orders and the other available for grab-and-go and drive-thru. Or, in high-volume restaurants, both sides can be used equally during peak times to double throughput for our guests.”

Modern Market Eatery has also honed the drive-thru model, opening its first restaurant with a drive-thru lane late last year. While the location is not drive-thru-only and still features about 50 seats for guests dining in, it introduces a revolutionary model to the industry. While pickup windows are not uncommon among elevated fast-casual brands, Modern Market Eatery’s streamlined prototype allows for a more traditional drive-thru experience.

“The dual-sided line is one of the key elements that allows us to produce fresh food in the drive-thru environment,” Cheek said. “This isn’t a pickup window where guests have to order long in advance. They pull up, order at a speaker box, confirm their selections and pull forward to receive their meal. That’s the biggest, most recent innovation we’ve embraced.”

In the future, Modern Market Eatery will continue to evolve, focusing on feedback from guests and meaningful changes that will further enhance the business rather than simply making changes to tick a box.

“In my opinion, there are no other concepts doing what we are at our level,” Cheek said. “We’ve achieved this status by maintaining a forward-thinking approach, and we fully intend to continue opening our minds and exploring new possibilities to maintain that status, an incredible level of service and the welcoming, inspiring environment our team members enjoy.”

To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://modernmarket.com/franchise.