Piada Italian Street Food — the Ohio-based, 40-unit fast-casual Italian eatery — is experimenting with new ways to encourage off-premises service and a quicker experience for customers. Its latest experiment is a new pay-first store near Pittsburgh, Penn. which is half the size of a standard Piada restaurant and leans into the pickup and takeout model.
“What we did was now you give all of that transactional information up front,” Piada executive chef Matt Harding said. “[…] We’re taking that step where the guest has to travel with the food down the line. It allows our team members to focus on making the food and making sure that the order is correct versus interacting with a guest.”
Moving forward, Piada will be trying out other types of store formats, including more pay-first locations if all goes well.
“We’re experimenting with a lot of tech,” Harding said. “[…] We’re taking a look at the things that really work well for us, and thinking, ‘how do we integrate those into the rest of the body of restaurants?’ Because it's about everybody having an amazing experience, not just in one or two locations, right? You want to spread the wealth.”
Since 2019, Piada has seen a 20% jump in sales, with digital as a growing portion of that income.
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