• Pizza Hut’s digital customers will be able to expedite the pickup process by pulling into the Hut Lane instead of leaving their cars and going into the store.
• Flynn Restaurant Group will add the Hut Lane to many of the 900-plus Pizza Hut stores it recently purchased from bankrupt NPC International.

Related: Pizza Hut “Should Stick to Knock-Knock Jokes,” Says Buddy’s Pizza Executive

Pizza Hut plans to speed up the pickup process for customers who place digital orders with its new Hut Lane.

Pizza Hut said it’s adding digital order pickup windows at more than 1,500 locations around the U.S.  The redesign follows the chain’s adoption of contactless curbside pickup last year as the coronavirus began to spread.

Using the Hut Lane, customers will be able to pick up their orders placed on the Pizza Hut app, website or via phone without having to leave their cars and enter the store. Customers can select the Hut Lane option when placing their orders online. At those stores that don’t offer the Hut Lane, customers can retrieve their orders through contactless curbside pickup.

“We are giving our customers a variety of options to optimize their pizza-eating experience as we build on our business momentum,” Nicolas Burquier, chief customer and operations officer for Pizza Hut, said in a statement. “Not only do we offer industry-leading, innovative menu items that are only available at Pizza Hut, we also offer several digital-first pick-up options for our customers, and The Hut Lane is a great example of that.”

Taco Bell, another restaurant chain owned by Pizza Hut parent company Yum! Brands, announced last year that it would be adding the new “Go Mobile” concept, a digital restaurant with a smaller, 1,325-square-foot footprint, for customers who order online or through the Taco Bell app. Those stores are scheduled to open this year.

As Nation’s Restaurant News reports, Flynn Restaurant Group, which recently purchased 900-plus Pizza Hut stores from bankrupt NPC International, will add the Hut Lanes at their locations. “As we transition into the Pizza Hut system, we are excited about the Hut Lane and the seamless customer experience it offers,” said Flynn’s chief improvement officer Ron Bellamy in a statement. “We know from our QSR experience how much value a pick-up window can unlock for the business, and we plan to prioritize the Hut Lane in future builds and relocations of existing stores.”