Entrepreneurs in the fast-food industry have plenty of issues to think about when launching or expanding a brand, including marketing, supply chain, cost of labor and making food that consumers crave.

Two upstart fast-food chains, P. Terry’s Burger Stand and Andy’s Frozen Custard, have added another element to that mixed plate: distinctive architectural designs to call attention to their emerging brands.

Their stores recall the heyday of American roadside architecture with gaudy colors, sharp angles and whimsical features such as a building shaped like a paper airplane. Their retro vibes bring back memories of the carefree days of the 1950s and early 1960s when Chevrolets and Fords traversed Route 66 through small-town America.

It can be an expensive proposition to commission a new design for every location, which is why so few retailers and quick-service restaurants do it, Greg Kirsch, executive managing director at Cushman & Wakefield, told CoStar News. Most fast-food operators use a basic model for all locations, he said.

“Sadly, unique buildings aren’t in vogue in retail due to the initial cost, the cost to revert and the negative brand impact in the event of a failure,” said Kirsch, who represents retailers. He’s not involved in either Andy’s Frozen Custard or P. Terry’s real estate or design work.

Many quick-service restaurant companies build quickly to meet aggressive expansion goals and use a basic prototype to cut costs and speed up construction, Kirsch said. Subway, In-N-Out Burger, Raising Cane's and others have all recently disclosed expansion plans.

But Andy Kuntz, founder of Andy’s Frozen Custard, decided the benefit of designing noticeable buildings is worth the cost, said Jeffrey Kloch, a principal at architecture firm Hufft, which has designed some of Andy's locations.

“To design anything that’s not a simple box, there’s a premium always associated with it,” Kloch told CoStar News.

Hufft, based in Kansas City, Missouri, created a prototype catalog that the company uses for future locations. The development cost for a typical Andy’s location ranges between $1.5 million and $1.7 million, Kloch said.

Kuntz did not respond to a request to comment from CoStar News.

Michael Hsu Office of Architecture designed a unique building for many of the early locations of P. Terry’s Burger Stand, said Micah Land, a partner at the architecture firm. P. Terry’s has since shifted to a less costly method of using a portfolio of different prototypes, but new locations retain the vivid 1960s-style design.

“Unique designs can enhance the overall customer experience and brand identity,” Land said in an emailed statement.

The design style, which Land described as “drawing inspiration from the auto-centric, midcentury roadside architecture that is quintessentially American,” has earned plenty of fans in the burger joint's hometown of Austin, Texas.

The red, white and turquoise look of P. Terry’s buildings conjures warm feelings among Austin locals, Britt Morrison, senior vice president at retail brokerage Weitzman, told CoStar News.

“It’s a town that’s very high on its locally found and bred concepts,” Morrison said.

Morrison compared it to the same feeling that Texans get during an out-of-state road trip when they see a Buc-ee’s convenience store.

The architects who design P. Terry’s buildings make a concerted effort to mimic visual themes in their immediate surroundings. The location near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is designed to resemble a paper airplane.

The affinity that P. Terry’s has created among its customers has made it valuable to commercial real estate developers, Morrison said.

“It’s kind of like having an H-E-B [grocery store] on site,” Morrison said. “There’s a spillover effect. Having an H-E-B or a P. Terry’s at a retail center probably comes with increased foot traffic.”

P. Terry’s did not respond to requests for comment. In a description on its website, the burger chain says “Our buildings have strong characteristics of wood, glass and stone. The straight lines give the structures a contemporary, timeless feel that we think makes for a better dining experience.”

To be clear, plenty of fast-food chains add visual design elements to draw attention. Dutch Bros paints its drive-thru coffee shops in vivid shades of blue and has brightly colored flags around its properties.

Another Texas-based hamburger chain, Whataburger, constructed early stores with a distinctive orange and white-striped A-frame design. But as the San Antonio-based company has expanded into other states, it’s shifted to a simple rectangle design with no A-frame roof.

The new Whataburger locations have “subtle cues that hearken back to what it was, but it feels like something is missing,” said Kloch with the architecture firm Hufft.

Whataburger did not respond to a request to comment.

The appearance of Andy’s Frozen Custard locations is an essential part of the business plan, Kloch said. Since most locations don’t have indoor seating areas, Hufft designed a large canopy over the walk-up order area of each store. The canopies have become a recognizable feature of Andy’s among its fans, he said.

“Consumers see that and they feel this is a brand that is doing well and it creates excitement,” Kloch said.

It’s probably not a coincidence that both P. Terry’s and Andy’s Frozen Custard chose the midcentury-modern Googie design style for their buildings. Perhaps best represented by the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign, Googie recalls the 1960s version of science fiction with bright colors, sharp angles and lots of starburst images.

It's a style that has an exceptionally devoted fan base, said George Smart, an architectural historian who curates the USModernist website.

“For decades, the Googie style was looked on as just trash and people said, 'Just tear it down, it’s old and not with the times,’” Smart told CoStar News. “It’s really coming back now.”