The cobranded KFC & Taco Bell restaurant located on the Black Horse Pike in Williamstown NJ was recently demolished. This was done to make way for a new Taco Bell only restaurant, featuring a two lane drive-thru.
This property location is at the intersection of Pine Street and the Black Horse Pike, very close to the Sicklerville Rd intersection and Geet’s Diner.
The franchise owners of this Williamstown location are the same Company who recently developed a new KFC restaurant on Berlin-Cross Keys Road in Gloucester Township, in front of the Acme.
The owners and development team have been working on the plans for these two locations for several years… seemingly with a goal to step away from the dual-restaurant concept and rebuild new and modern stores as individual fast food restaurants.
When we posted on the opening of the new KFC in Sicklerville Gloucester Township, we heard directly from franchise Corporate management who clarified the plan was to get the new Cross Keys KFC opened and running smoothly, and then start the redevelopment of the Williamstown property as a Taco Bell.
Well they wasted no time, as it was only weeks after the KFC Sicklerville opening, that they shut down the Williamstown KFC/Taco Bell location and the construction fencing went up.
The Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and Habit Burger Grill brands are all owned by Yum! Brands.
QSR Magazine recently reported that Yum! opened 4,180 new units, which after taking in account demolition of older units or closing, netted over 3,057 new locations… in ONE YEAR!
Williamstown Taco Bell Only – Dual Drive Thru Lanes
We first reported on the planned changes to the Williamstown location back in September 2020, specific to their Planning Board presentation a month earlier.
This was actually their second trip to the Planning Board for that project, as they were originally granted approval for the rebuild back in August 2019.
Originally the plan was approved with a single drive-thru lane, but it’s clear that after seeing how drive-thru sales increased in restaurants during Covid lockdowns, it would be better to develop the property with dual drive-thru lanes.
From the Monroe Township Planning Board August 2020 minutes
She (the attorney) stated that since the COVID 19 pandemic, the drive through service is even more essential to the business than ever before which is why they are proposing the change to a second drive through lane on the property.
That first approval back in 2019 was just 4 months before the Covid pandemic started to make its way around the USA, and at that time no one was thinking how the world was soon going to change… forcing the plan adjustment.
The former KFC & Taco Bell building sat to the far right of the property. In the former building, the orientation was adjusted so that the property was somewhat sideways.
Honestly, the former building looked to be in good shape… at least from the exterior.
In the new Taco Bell only development, the building will be placed more centered in the property, but on a slight angle.
Access to the new Taco Bell will be from both the Black Horse Pike and Pine Street.
With the building in the middle, the dual drive-thru lanes will be on the right side. Basically dual lanes means that there are to lanes with menu boards but as cars move around to the side of the building to pay, it merges back into one lane.
This does increase the ability to service more cars, because as one car is ordering the other can already be looking at the menu board, and in position to quickly order when its their turn.
3D imagery (C) Google. Used per their fair-use rules for news sites.
Links and Locations
Taco Bell (Under Construction)
110 N Black Horse Pike
Williamstown, NJ 08094
KFC Sicklerville (Opened in February 2020)
Acme Shopping Center
517 Berlin-Cross Keys Rd
Sicklerville NJ