Efficiency and Sales
Fast-food sales are growing. McDonald’s sales surpassed 2019 levels. Taco Bell grew throughout the pandemic, boosting service by 30 million cars in 2020 over 2019. Assigning a worker to take orders, walking through cars dramatically increases the throughput at a drive-through. Multiple menu boards prevent bottlenecks. Reducing time inside your restaurant can impact keeping the drive-through moving. Stay nimble and modular in your approach to solving this problem. Driving throughs are popular but this may only be temporary. The smartest option is a multi-faceted model that includes drive-throughs, curbside, and home delivery.
Staffing and Service Problems
Restaurant staffing is the main cause of drive-thru delays. Customers are fuming in long lines, and employees feel more pressure from agitated customers. While times seem dire, some chains are trying to turn abysmal times and accuracy around.
Personal Drive-Thru Strategy
When there are more than 3 cars, I park and go inside. I realize some have order and pick up spots to speed things up. But I don’t have the patience for long lines anymore. Most times I go inside and there are no customers, but the drive-thru takes forever. They aren’t actually busier, but have fewer, slower employees. So the line takes longer. During quiet hours, the drive-thru is faster. Drive-through and walking in times are similar during busy hours.
Drive-Thru Statistics and Comparisons
The average drive-thru wait time is about 4 min and 50 seconds, which is about 30 seconds less than the average wait time in 2019. During quiet hours, we have strong evidence suggesting the drive-thru is faster. The fastest drive-through? KFC Has The Fastest Drive-Thru, Chick-Fil-A The Slowest: Study.
Drive-throughs get slower during high demand and with a workforce reduction due to the coronavirus. The average speed for all quick-service chains was 255 seconds — 20 seconds longer than last year’s average.
Drive-Thru vs. In-Store Pickup
The order-taking process on average takes 17 seconds in our drive-thrus for simple orders of two to three items. McDonald’s seeks to speed things up by cutting back on menu complexity. If the order at McDonald’s drive-thru isn’t ready in 60 seconds or less, the guest will receive a free lunch item during a future meal.
A drive-through or drive-thru is a type of take-out service that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. For Starbucks, “Out the window sales,” including drive-thru and mobile orders completed through the drive-thru, made up over 50% of sales with a 10% increase over pre-pandemic levels.
With the growing use of ordering via the mobile app, register lines have shortened, but it’s taking even longer to get your drink, as baristas are swamped with simultaneous orders.
Why does McDonald’s make you pull up? McDonald’s moves cars through the drive-thru more efficiently. If your food isn’t ready when you get to the second window, they pull you forward to serve the next person their food in a timely manner.