P.F. Chang's is Bringing its Slimmed-Down Takeout and Delivery Restaurant to the D.C. Region

The Scottsdale, Arizona-based company plans to open one of its P.F. Chang's To Go stores at 1120 20th St. NW, also known as Lafayette Centre, according to permit documents filed with the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. There would not be any seating for customers at the nearly 1,700-square-foot location, per the permit documents.

The new location, slated to open in the fall of 2021, is one of as many as five P.F. Chang's To Go locations planned for the area, according to a representative for P.F. Chang's. Including those in the D.C. region, there are 30 To Go locations in operation or slated to open through 2022 in select cities across the U.S., including Chicago, New York and Orlando.

A representative for Beacon Capital Partners, which owns Lafayette Centre, declined to comment.
DCRA issued a construction permit May 28 for the location, with Ohio-based Fred Oliveri Construction Co. listed as the project's contractor. A scant description of work included in permit documents stated: "Interior alteration for new to-go restaurant. No seat."

It's the latest iteration of a growing trend toward online ordering and takeout and delivery since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, which fueled the growth of ghost kitchens — kitchens that house multiple restaurants focused on carryout and delivery — locally and nationally.

How these smaller versions will affect restaurant chains' larger-format restaurants, which had also been doing a lot of carryout and delivery business during the pandemic, remains to be seen. P.F. Chang's started developing its to-go stores pre-pandemic, registering P.F. Chang's To Go LLC with the Arizona Corporation Commission in April 2019.

Locally, the chain has dine-in restaurants in Arlington, Tysons and Fairfax, according to the company's website. A Friendship Heights location in D.C. closed in 2020. That restaurant's closure was unrelated to P.F. Chang's To Go plans, and a representative for the company said it does not view the To Go locations as replacements for its full-scale restaurants. In all, the company has more than 210 restaurants across the country.