Many coffee chains such as Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and Tim Hortons have upgraded their locations with drive-thru lanes. This not only increases revenues by ease-of-entry but allows customers to choose whether to wait on line inside or stay in the car for a quicker grab and go. These drive-thru windows are a big thing for every fast food restaurant obviously, and coffee joints realized that and soon incorporated it themselves. A Dunkin Donuts in Scotch Plains, NJ was doing some renovations to make their drive-thru better for the employees and ended up doing just that.
Scotch Plains, NJ can get really nippy in the colder months of the year, more so than some other towns due to the strong wind gusts it receives. The owner of this particular Dunkin Donuts had searched looking for a way to help make the drive-thru a better experience for the employees. The problem here was that during the Fall and Winter months, and during windy days, snow, and rain, the employees working the drive-thru were often faced with direct wind blowing right in their direction. Constantly opening up the window to serve the customers led to a lot of employees being too cold and never really getting to warm up. There was nothing blocking or slowing down the wind or weather from going directly at the employees in full force.
The owner of this particular Dunkin Donuts found out about glass blocks and reached out to us regarding this drive-thru. The owner wanted to know if there was something we can do to blockade the employees and drive-thru window from the direct gusts of wind, and we certainly said of course! We ended up explaining that a glass block wall can be built that would essentially act as a solid brick wall, blocking the air and weather, and also as a decorative instrument due to glass block’s natural aesthetics.
We at Eastern Glass Block had gone to this location and built an 8′ x 13′ wall using Vue glass blocks, which are completely transparent to allow maximum light to shine through. The glass block wall now sits beautifully on an already existing brick divider in between two pillars. The owner was impressed with how quickly the wall was built and how good it looked. She even told us some customers had asked about the wall as well. The employees also noted that the glass block wall is doing its job and doing it well. There is no longer any harsh wind gusts hitting them and they now have protection from the coming weather as well.
Glass blocks are frequently used in restaurants and commercial applications but even we have to admit this was our first glass block wall for a drive-thru.
Have any ideas of your own on what you can do with our glass blocks? Let us know! We would love to hear some of your ideas. If you have any questions or comments regarding glass blocks feel free to comment or send us an email and we will be happy to get back to you. To learn more about Glass Blocks please visit our website at http://easternglassblock.com . Call us now at 800-635-1226 or email at egboffice@easternglassblock.com. We have over 26 years of experience and we will be happy to help you in designing or material supply.
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