The interior of the new Krystal restaurants feature seating about about three dozen persons, or only half the seating capacity of some of the older Krystal restaurants.

Like its signature small square hamburger, Krystal is moving toward smaller, more square restaurant designs as part of its rebuild of its older units to make them more modern and mobile friendly for pickup service.

Krystal razed its 29-year-old restaurant just north of Hamilton Place Mall this week to make room for its new smaller building format with double drive-through service. The new "Davenport" design (named after Krystal founder and late former company president Rody Davenport Jr., of Chattanooga) is about one third smaller in size than the unit it replaces but is being designed to speed service through its drive-through window.

"Seventy percent of our business now comes through our drive through so we've decreased the square footage in our new units but we've invested more in our drive-throughs and kitchen designs to maximize the speed of our service," Krystal CEO Paul Macaluso said Friday. "We're seeing improvements already between 20 and 30 seconds in these restaurants in terms of how quickly we can serve customers."

The "scrape and rebuild" of the Shallowford Road restaurant is one of 10 Krystal is undergoing across its Southeastern footprint this year, and the fast-food chain plans to rebuild twice as many next year.

The first of the new "Davenport" designs opened Monday in both Tuscaloosa, Alabama and in Jackson, Mississippi.

Each of the new restaurants typically cost more than $1 million to rebuild. The 40 or so employees at each restaurant will staff other Krystal restaurants in the area during the 120-day rebuild, Macaluso said.

Krystal plans to "scrape and rebuild" up to 100 of its 240 company-owned stores over the next five years, in addition to adding a couple of new company-owned stores this year as the 86-year-old chain seeks to boost its sales after two years of decline.

"Over half of our restaurants are over 40 years old and it's hard to maintain those restaurants," Macaluso said.

The new 1,788 square-foot restaurant on Shallowford Road will be the first of the new designs built in Tennessee, although another couple local Krystal units are expected to be replaced in the region in the next year.

The new restaurants slated to open by mid December will seat 35 to 40 individuals — or about half of the 75-seat capacity in the restaurant it will replace. The new restaurant will sport a vibrant color package highlighting the Krystal name in red, a heritage color for Krystal. Architecturally, the new wood, metal and stucco buildings are designed to be both contemporary and nostalgic, with a full-glass front and a wood-framed open ceiling in the dining room.

"The biggest improvement will be enhanced drive-through functionality. the drive-through design is build for speed and serviceability with a single window, expanded work zone and double drive-lane," Macaluso said.

No jobs are lost in the rebuild, Macaluso said, and staff will be added to support the resulting sales lift.

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340