Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers Unveils New Restaurant Design With Opening In Belleville, Illinois

Leading Fast-Casual Concept's New Prototype Optimizes Off-Premise Channels with Redesigned Pick-Up Area, Among Other Features

Wichita, KS /PRNewswire/ - Fast-casual restaurant concept Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers® announced today the opening of a corporate-owned restaurant location in Belleville, Illinois, featuring its newest restaurant design. Now available to prospective franchisees, the format features a standard drive-thru and an enhanced mobile pick-up window to meet the increased consumer demand for off-premise dining. Standing at either 2,800 square feet or 2,400 square feet, the design includes an enhanced kitchen layout to enable each order channel to maintain high efficiency across the operation. The opening in the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area comes on the heels of Freddy's recent announcement to open a location within the region's professional baseball arena, Busch Stadium.

"We recognize the importance of adapting with the constant shifts in consumer preferences and making it easier for people to access Freddy's. With nearly 70 percent of sales being consumed off-premise, our team has been focused on developing restaurant prototypes that cater to this preferred method of dining by increasing convenience and ease of use for our guests," says Chris Dull, CEO of Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers. "The new prototype design opening in Belleville increases the convenience our guests seek by optimizing off-premise channels and not sacrificing the speed and quality that has maintained loyalty to our brand with over 20 years of history."

Genuine hospitality remains a cornerstone of Freddy's brand value and is showcased through the new restaurant design. The format prioritizes guest satisfaction by incorporating innovative features that promote order accuracy and process efficiency through all order channels. These updates include Accutemp's XLR8 kitchen technology, which presses Freddy's steakburger patties into a consistent shape each time, making grill operations less physically demanding while increasing consistency for guests. Additionally, the restaurant's designated digital pickup area has a custard freezer to give quick access to mobile and delivery orders without interfering with the dine-in order queue. The back-of-house also has a transformed bagging station with a simplified, easy-to-interpret display, and a shared expo counter to give the shift lead the ability to manage every aspect of the operation from one location.

As Freddy's maintains a high level of growth across the country, the brand will look to gather insights and key data from the new restaurant in Belleville to continue refining real estate options for new and existing franchisees. Slated to open over 60 locations before the close of the calendar year, Freddy's remains committed to franchisees, team members and a one-of-a-kind guest experience to support the chains greater development goal of doubling its footprint within the next three years. Franchise opportunities remain in nine of Canada's provinces, excluding Quebec, and in the U.S. including the Northeast, Upper Midwest, California, Florida, Oregon, and Washington, and large metro areas such as Pittsburgh.

Freddy's wide variety of traditional and non-traditional restaurants has consistently earned the brand recognition as a leading fast-casual concept and franchise system. Most recently, the brand ranked #70 on Entrepreneur Magazine's highly competitive Franchise 500 ranking of the top franchise brands, QSR Magazine's esteemed QSR 50 list at #46, as well as being awarded North America's Best New National Brand Concept by Airports Council International for the opening of Freddy's first airport location in 2021 in Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport.

About Freddy's
Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers is a leading fast-casual franchise concept with more than 460 locations across 36 states nationwide. Founded in Wichita, Kansas, in 2002, the brand offers a unique combination of cooked-to-order steakburgers, all-beef hot dogs, shoestring fries and other savory items, along with freshly churned frozen custard treats. Known for operating The Freddy's Way, Guests experience genuine hospitality and food prepared fresh with premium ingredients. This signature approach has fueled Freddy's ongoing growth throughout the U.S. and garnered national recognition from industry-leading rankings, including being named No. 1 on Forbes Best Franchises to Buy and No. 70 on Entrepreneur's Franchise 500. For more on Freddy's, visit the Newsroom and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For more information about development opportunities, visit https://freddysfranchising.com/.