The pandemic changed the fast-food industry, with order-ahead and drive-thru becoming consumers’ options of choice. Apparently, the effect is lasting.

A redo of the Dairy Queen parking lot in Eden Prairie was given preliminary approval Tuesday, Feb. 7, by the city council to help the restaurant accommodate an increase in drive-thru traffic.

Steve Giorgi, a spokesperson for the Dairy Queen location, said drive-thru traffic has grown to be three times larger than dine-in traffic – something that wasn’t anticipated when the restaurant was built in 2005 southeast of the intersection of Highway 5 and Eden Prairie Road.

Without a designated drive-thru lane, said Giorgi, the result is that drive-thru traffic often stacks up, interfering with the parking area used by customers dining inside.

So, Dairy Queen has proposed remaking the parking lot to create a designated drive-thru lane on the lot’s perimeter. Parking for dine-in customers would change to angled parking to allow room for the designed drive-thru lane. Dine-in customers, upon leaving, would need to circle the building, with drive-thru customers yielding.

The council unanimously approved the change. Giorgi said the restaurant would shut down for 2½ to 3 weeks for the construction, likely in March or shortly thereafter, before Dairy Queen’s busy season, he said.

It’s not the first evidence that fast-food restaurant buildings are changing to accommodate more drive-thru patronage. Before Chick-fil-A was built at the intersection of Flying Cloud Drive and Prairie Center Drive, it sought and received city approval for a late change in plans: a second lane for the length of the drive-thru area.

When the new Starbucks was built last year, just a stone’s throw from Dairy Queen, it used a new prototype design that relies mostly on drive-thru traffic without indoor seating.

The city council still needs to give final approval to the Dairy Queen project.