Few things are as Tucson as eegee’s. The fast-food restaurant chain started here and, for the majority of its history, it has remained here, although several new locations have started to pop up around metro Phoenix.
When you drive past an eegee’s you instantly know what it is. It has a familiar look and design. And, like most other fast-food chains, it has a drive-through and interior dining area. However, the Tucson food chain is about to unveil a completely new approach to serving customers.
Dubbed as a “Quick Service” variation of the chain, this is a completely different look. While it maintains some of the pastel pinks and turquoise colors you’ll find at other locations, the rest of the restaurant is different.
Located at 4765 South Landing Center, the restaurant has a classic 50’s fast food look combined with a modern container building. The usage of the containers helped the restaurant cut down on pollution with its construction while also helping it go up faster.
The restaurant will still have a drive-through, but the quick service element is going to make this eegee’s totally different from any other you have been in. All of the walls around the regular dining area feature glass garage doors. This allows the restaurant to open up all of the walls and instantly convert the entire restaurant into an open-air establishment. So should social distancing and interior dining mandates return, this eegee’s will be prepared.
On top of the open door design, there are a number of covered picnic tables on the exterior, so if you want to walk right into the restaurant, order your food, and sit down, either in the open-air interior or outside, you’ll be able to do that.
Thanks to its location right off the Santa Cruz River Bikeway, there will be ample space to park your bicycle. Because after all, following a long bike ride sometimes nothing sounds better than stopping off for a frozen eegee’s treat.
The entire men will remain intact, so you can still order all your favorites from this new-look destination. Additionally, if you are only thirsty and don’t want to order some of the award-winning french fries, you can pull up into the eegee’s drink-only drive-through.
The new location just opened up on May 25, so if you find yourself near the Landing Center, you won’t have to travel far to order from the staple Tucson fast food joint. This new look is also an experiment for the company. They want to see how patrons not only take the design but how the open-air feature works.
During COVID, most businesses were caught off guard and were left scrambling to find ways to provide eating opportunities for patrons. Restaurants with outdoor patios and open-air designs were able to open up and return to partial capacity far sooner than those with only interior dining. And many restaurants started to look for ways to increase their dining room footage.
Restaurants with play places and other items for children gutted these areas and converting them into more table space. So, chances are, not only will eegee’s be monitoring the new design but other restaurants as well. Because if this new building design works, don’t be surprised to see other restaurants following with a similar design in the near future. It’s just one of the many ways COVID will change the way we eat at restaurants, and the way owners design their buildings to future-proof against future pandemics.
If you are interested in a possible position the best way to apply is to stop by the new location in person and fill out an application.