Osgood's Case Study | Custom Drive-Thru

Background:

The Bartolotta brothers, Joe and Paul, grew up in a traditional Italian family in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. Embracing their love of good, simple and fresh food served with love, they collaborated on their first signature Italian restaurant in Milwaukee in 1993. Over the next two decades, The Bartolotta Restaurants added 13 more award winning dining concepts in and around the Milwaukee area.

Their newest venture in collaboration with Phoenix Development Partners is Osgood’s, featuring the Bartolotta take on a Fast Casual Restaurant setting. Menu items include the classic Chicago hot dog, Angus Beef hamburgers, and Wisconsin favorites including cheese curds, Johnsonville Brats and frozen custard. Never having developed a Fast Casual-style dining experience and wanting to incorporate a multi-lane drive-thru service, the Bartolottas sought out a company who could help guide them through installing an efficient and properly constructed drive-thru lane for Osgood’s. The Howard Company answered the call to share their years of drive-thru expertise with the Bartolotta group.

Development:

The Howard Company sales team met with the Joe Bartolotta, his IT group and marketing department to review site plans and develop the most cohesive layout for the new drive-thru lane. Necessary considerations included a “Y” service lane, offering two ordering stations that would converge to meet the pay and pick-up windows.

The layout needed to take into account under pavement vehicle detection loops, where to put the main menu boards, allow for the correct distances between the order stations and the lane convergence, and the correct curve degrees for vehicles turning in the lanes to approach the pay and pick-up windows.

Defined next was the equipment needed for their full-service drive-thru lane. The menu board size was determined based on their menu content. The Howard also designed and produced full graphic menu transparencies for the new board as well as clearance decals for the awnings. Additional drive-thru options included directional signs, a canopy over the ordering areas for guest protection from the weather and nighttime security, and most importantly, a high quality communication system for clear customer/order taker exchanges to ensure correct food delivery at the pick-up window.

Osgoods Drive-Thru Menu Board and Canopy

Dual lane order points both include a canopy for driver protection, a full graphic menu board, and a high-quality communications system.

Osgood's sought out guidance as they looked to open their first fast casual restaurant in Wauwatosa, WI. The Howard Company stepped up to see ownership through their new venture, offering advice on the proper equipment needed for the task.

The Osgood's dual drive-thru lane layout helps keep drive-thru congestion to a minimum.

Osgood's needed easy-to-read drive thru menu boards, and most importantly, a high quality communications system to ensure orders were correctly heard and prepared. The Howard also produced full color graphics for the menu board.

Guiding restaurant guests through the Osgood's drive-thru lane in a safe and hassle-free way was a priority for the Bartolottas; The Howard Company was able to offer their experience to provide them with great solutions.

Directional signs guide restaurant guests to the drive-thru lanes at Osgood's, Bartolotta's new fast casual restaurant concept recently opened in Wauwatosa, WI

Results:

Timing the installation of the equipment was paramount. The Howard team worked with Bartolotta’s construction crew to lay out the optimal time-line for proper installation of all the drive-thru lane items. As a result of the careful planning, all drive-thru lane products were installed on time and on budget, meeting the opening day deadline.

The Howard Company looks forward to continue as the “go-to” source for the Bartolotta development team as they research expansion into other Fast Casual opportunities. Our ability to offer a complete drive-thru lane product line plus respond quickly to Joe Bartolotta’s needs put us ahead of the competition.