In a tough year for the hospitality industry, more people have turned to takeaways, deliveries and fast food. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced chains to rethink their branch layouts with more space for pick-up and contactless ordering, while some are unveiling dramatic new designs. Menus are being revamped too, with growing trends towards plant-based options and upgraded, more gourmet foods. Here’s what we can expect from fast food chains large and small in 2021 and beyond.

This small chain, specialising in the Greek street food it’s named after, is well known in Idaho with nine locations across the state. And we reckon it’s about to become a household name elsewhere too, with plans to expand with branches in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Montana and Wyoming. Up to six locations could open their doors in 2021 with a further 10 or so in 2022.

The plan to bring its delicious gyros – made with soft pittas wrapped around tender meat, chicken or veggie fillings – to more states is part of investment and reinvigoration of the chain by new owners Mark Urness and Matt Jeffries, who bought the company after running several stores. New and existing locations will have a stronger focus on drive-thru offerings and deliveries with improved tech.

This fast food giant, which has more than 6,500 locations across the US and in 29 territories and countries including Canada, made its fifth attempt to rival the McDonald’s McMuffin by cracking the breakfast market in 2020. Wendy's began serving items like the Breakfast Baconator – a morning twist on the popular Baconator burger, with fresh eggs, bacon and a sausage patty – at select US locations in March and was initially successful. Though breakfast service was one of the hardest hit during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the plans are stepping up a gear again.

Morning meals are set to be even bigger for the Ohio-founded chain in 2021. Numbers improved towards the end of 2020 and the company has invested heavily in advertising and infrastructure to boost awareness. If successful, it could roll out to all branches. The company has also just added another item to its roster of popular sandwiches and burgers: the Spicy Chicken Sandwich, with crispy-coated chicken breast, lettuce, tomato and mayo.

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There’s also exciting news for Wendy’s fans in the UK, as the chain returns nearly 20 years since it closed its outlets there. The first will open in Reading, England in early 2021, and the company has hinted more will follow. The chain is also expanding in India, opening 150 traditional restaurants and around 250 “cloud kitchens”, which focus on digital ordering and delivery without dine-in options, over the next decade.

Never heard of CAO Bakery & Café or tasted its huge Cuban sandwiches? That could change pretty quickly if the company’s expansion goes as planned. The South Florida-born chain, which was founded as Vicky Bakery in 1972, has doubled to 12 units in the region since 2018. And it isn’t stopping there, with 10 locations slated to open in 2021 and a further 35 by 2024.

The name stands for "Cuban American Original" and its menu sticks with that heritage with baked goods and traditional, generously filled sandwiches. The initial expansion will focus on areas with strong Cuban-American culture such as Tampa, West Palm and Tallahassee, later expanding outside of Florida with stores in New Jersey, California, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina. A new drive-thru concept is also being trialled in Florida’s Hallandale Beach.

Burger King has some whopping plans to expand its reign in 2021 with a host of innovations from sleek new-look restaurants to reusable packaging. The chain is rolling out futuristic branches, with the first due to open in Miami, Florida, South America and the Caribbean. Plans were pushed forward and adapted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are focused on meeting modern customer demands.

The new, more compact branches will include dedicated mobile ordering and curbside pick-up areas, plus contactless options. Features include solar-powered canopies in a new drive-in area, where people can order via an app and have food delivered to their cars. There will also be outdoor lockers where orders can be collected using a code and a shaded patio for dining in. And a fancy new drive-thru area will have multiple lanes and a wide view of the kitchen, framed by a living wall.

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Some restaurants may also have a kitchen and dining area suspended above the drive-thru lanes to reduce the building’s footprint and work better in busy urban environments. The global giant is also trialling reusable packaging in a bid to reduce waste, starting in New York City, Portland, Oregon, and Tokyo, Japan. Customers will have to pay a deposit which will be refunded when they return the cups and sandwich boxes to be cleaned and reused.

This relatively young chain, founded in 2008 in Denver, Colorado, has more than 340 locations across the US and in several other countries. And there are ambitious plans to open at least 40 new restaurants in 2021. The company will focus on locations where it already has a strong presence and customer base, with most of the new stores in city centres, residential areas and out-of-town retail hubs.

The company, whose brand and menu is all about freshly prepared, high-quality comfort food, has said its newer branches will be more modern, tech-driven and chef-centric. Open kitchens will emphasise the focus on the cooking and customers will be able to use contactless pick-up systems: ordering online and via the app, and collecting food from cubbies.

The US-founded pizza giant closed several stores in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but has ambitious plans to bounce back in 2021 with a renewed focus on takeaways and deliveries. Its UK arm has announced plans to open up to 125 more locations over three years, creating more than 2,000 jobs.

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Pizza Hut is also carving out a slice of the growing vegan and vegetarian market with a partnership with plant-based specialists Beyond Meat. Its Beyond Italian Sausage and Great Beyond pizzas were trialled at restaurants across the US and in the UK at the end of 2020. Both Pizza Hut and Beyond Meat have said this is part of a broader collaboration, so they may become a permanent menu fixture in the near future.

Pollo Campero, whose name is Spanish for “country chicken”,  is known for its chicken served three ways: fried, grilled or extra-crunchy. It was founded in Guatemala in 1971 and has around 400 restaurants worldwide, with around 80 of those in the US. And it’s set to become an even bigger presence in the States with plans to have around 300 stores open by 2025 and more beyond that.

The company has hired Sam Wong, who has worked with Dairy Queen, Popeye’s and Sonic Drive-In, as its director of franchising to help build the brand and make it more of a household name. Plans for new franchises are expected to focus on southeastern states including Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

As well as new franchises across the country, Pollo Campero plans to open more so-called digital or “ghost” kitchens that don’t offer dining in and instead focus purely on pick-up and delivery. The first three will be in San Francisco and Anaheim in California and in Chicago, Illinois.

The California-founded chain has abandoned plans to launch new-look restaurants with stadium-style seating in favour of a tech-driven format it has dubbed “Taco Bell Go Mobile”. Its new, smaller units will be less focused on dining in and more focused on enhancing the drive-thru experience. That will look like priority lanes for mobile order pick-ups and smart kitchens that, thanks to being synched with the app, know when guests arrive to collect their food.

There will also “bellhops” who will exclusively work the drive-thru and pick-up lanes (though the use of smart tablets means that’s not quite as retro as it sounds). Two new US locations, which will be company-owned, are due to launch in early 2021, while existing restaurants will be retrofitted to incorporate the new design. The company has also said it will help franchisees to create their own versions that fit with the new branding.

This Texas-based chain has been around since the 1960s but has grown hugely in the past few years. There are currently 200 branches with 42 more due to open in 2021 – and a projection to reach between 500 and 600 units by 2030. In the works are 55 locations in Houston, 35 in West Texas and 20 in Las Vegas, which will be a new market for the family-run company.

The chain, which launched a new chicken sandwich in 2020, will continue to improve its drive-thru service with enhanced cleanliness and faster turnaround. Its branch refresh programme – with new digital menus, modern interiors, deli cabinets and media walls – is due to be completed by the end of 2021 too.

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This Tex-Mex chain might not be on everyone’s radar but it has been quietly building up a stronger presence in the past few years. Founder Pete Mora was ahead of the curve in 2008 when, six years after first opening as a full-service restaurant, he decided to switch to smaller locations focusing on pick-up, delivery and speedy service. The company began franchising in 2015.

It's proved successful, especially during the pandemic, and now around 90% of the company’s business comes via to-go orders and catering for events and meetings. Now 2021 sees the chain begin its plans to more than double its number of branches. There are currently around 20 locations and more than 30 are in the works in Missouri, Colorado and Texas.

Fajita Pete’s focus is Tex-Mex fajitas, which can be ordered as individual portions or “family style”, with meat, hand-rolled tortillas and sides of refried beans, rice, sour cream and guacamole. Yet its five new restaurants opening in Austin will be the first in the Texan city.

The finger lickin’ favourite is trialling two new types of store in the US: an express store with an outdoor “Colonel’s Porch” in lieu of a dining room, and branches focused on contactless pick-up and digital ordering. The first will launch in Indiana, Florida and Kentucky in early 2021. The Colonel’s chicken chain also plans to create 5,400 jobs across its branches in the UK and Ireland and to open more than 500 new sites.

KFC also has some juicy plans for its menu, having trialled several new developments in 2020. First it launched a premium version of its chicken sandwich, with an extra-crispy coating, a buttery brioche bun, thicker pickles and signature mayonnaise in classic or spicy. The company promises the burger, which was trialled in Orlando, Florida, is both bigger and better. It’s certainly hard to argue with the former claim: the huge chunk of chicken is barely contained by its bun.

The fried chicken chain has also been experimenting with new plant-based menu items. Its Beyond Fried Chicken, made with plant-based protein designed to look and pull apart like chicken breast, was trialled across Southern California branches in summer 2020. After much hype and the faux chicken selling out across the restaurants, a wider launch in the next year or so looks likely.

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The world’s largest fast food chain doesn’t rest on its laurels. The long-awaited McDonald’s McPlant menu is due to launch in 2021 after a meatless burger was piloted at several restaurants in Ontario, Canada in September 2019. That was created by Beyond Meat and it’s believed they have worked with McDonald’s on a similar meatless burger and other menu items, though the partnership hasn’t been confirmed by the chain.

McDonald’s has confirmed the vegetarian and vegan options will be created “by McDonald’s and for McDonald’s”, and will be trialled in markets including the US and UK. The vegan cheeseburger is expected to be the main draw, with a plant-based patty, vegan cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, ketchup, vegan mayonnaise and mustard. The menu is also likely to include chicken alternatives and breakfast sandwiches.

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The company hasn’t confirmed when the menu is likely to become a permanent fixture or when it will be rolled out globally but its CEO, Chris Kempczinski, said it’s “a matter of when”, not if. The other big news is the release of its crispy chicken sandwich – fried chicken on a potato roll, topped with pickles – in the US in early 2021. Customers can also expect the McDonald’s experience to become increasingly high-tech and bespoke, since the corporation acquired AI specialists Dynamic Yield in late 2019.

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