Smashburger is moving into high tech in a bid to gain an edge on competitors.

Smashburger President Carl Bachmann said in an interview, “The business has to transition,” as he explained his company’s recent moves into services such as virtual drive-thrus, digital ordering, and contactless options.

When the Covid pandemic hit, the company had to quickly transition from a dine-in model to offering increased take-out options. However the advantages to the new business model quickly became apparent as digital and call-in orders jumped 450%.

Since then the company has doubled down on its commitment to develop new restaurant models which are adaptable to its new digital transformation.

Bachmann said, “Fast casual is changing, and we need to make sure that this omni-channel approach gives more people access to our products and our services. If you want to be successful today, you have to have that approach and really give extra access points to consumers.”

He further explained that by making multiple tech improvements, it also helps customers accept the company’s higher prices, which have become necessary as the company sees its costs rise with inflation, and it has to rethink all of its strategies.

He explained, “You just have to think about doing business a little differently,” such as by allowing customers “simpler, quicker, and easier” access to its products through the chain’s virtual drive-through program, which automates the process of accepting payment and serving the customer. “That gives a person who’s maybe juggling jobs and home and everything else, another option to get a fast-casual, higher-level quality experience without even leaving their car.”

But Bachman sees the technology as assisting its workers, and not replacing them, adding, “We’re going to need more workers as our volumes pick up.” For Bachman, the technology allows the chain to “operate at a quicker pace, increases revenues, and lessens its overall footprint — especially from a drive-thru perspective,” by allowing employees to perform multiple duties at once, as guests handle pre-ordering and pre-paying themselves.

Bachmann went on, “What this does is it creates this ability to have a smaller footprint. It makes less real estate, less traffic congestion. A lot of municipalities are not happy with the traffic congestion during the pandemic with the amount of drive-throughs and the stacks of cars. So with a virtual drive-through, that kind of technology will get us to a three- or four-car stack instead of a 40-car stack.”