A sizable line at the drive-thru was once proof of a concept’s appeal. Now it’s more of an indictment—a reminder the operation has an opportunity to provide greater convenience, boost sales per labor dollar spent and handle more orders while customers are looking to buy.
The quest to accelerate lines and bolster throughput has brought a fit of experimentation unseen at the humble drive-thru since someone had the brainstorm to try two windows instead of one. McDonald’s made waves a few years back with its zipper system—two drive-thru order lines merging into one pay-at-the-window queue—but innovation was often closer to how Popeyes revived its drive-up stations: using better microphones and installing timers.
Technology has clearly helped to both cut service times and bolster accuracy. But simple operational tweaks also figure prominently in the search for the next breakthrough in drive-up service.
Here’s a quick roundup of what various chains are doing to hit the gas on drive-thru. Note the group extends beyond quick-service restaurants.
McDonald’s
With all of the innovations Big Mac has rolled out in the last two years, it’s easy to forget the resurging giant’s ambitious plans for streamlining drive-thru service. The updates sketched out a year ago would enable customers to input complicated, highly customized orders into their smartphones and generate a code. That code is what they relay into the ordering drive-thru microphone, so there’s no need to say the whole order and have it repeated back.
The variation on the idea is skipping the drive-thru altogether, sending the digital order directly to the kitchen, and then pulling into a designated parking area to have the food delivered curbside by a staffer.
Dunkin’ Donuts
The coffee and doughnuts chain recently opened a new prototype that incorporates what management has dubbed the Next Generation drive-thru. Essentially, it’s a two-lane, two-window system, with one pathway reserved for meal pickups by members of the chain’s loyalty program, DD Perks. Members who remotely place an order digitally can jump the drive-thru ordering line and follow the second lane to merge into the pickup queue.
Chipotle
Dunkin’ has been crowing that it’s the first national quick-service chain to offer a drive-thru option expressly for the pickup of digital orders. That’s technically true, but it was actually beaten on the announcement of such a setup by a fast casual, Chipotle Mexican Grill, which revealed last year that it was adding a “vehicular pickup window” at a test store in Ohio. As with Dunkin’s arrangement, customers who have placed an order via app can go right to the window for pickup.
Friendly’s
Chipotle isn’t the only non-QSR to give car service a try. Friendly’s, the venerable family chain, now has eight drive-thrus in operation, seven of them retrofitted onto established stores. The adoption required a reconfiguration of the kitchens so that the production process flowed to the pickup window. Clamshell-style grills were installed to cook items like burgers more quickly, at a cost of $2 million, and the chain switched to auto-cleaning fryers so production would not be disrupted by a manual removal of debris. Panini presses were added to finish wraps, instead of keeping that process at the grill station.
All told, the renovation costs ran from $150,000 to $300,000 per store. But the return justified that investment, with sales jumping 10%, according to COO Dennis Pfaff. The new sales channel now accounts for 22% to 24% of a host restaurant’s total intake, says David Panella, VP of domestic development.
Starbucks
The coffee chain is trying to keep the personal feel of the drive-thru by providing two-way visuals along with an audio connection. Patrons can see the staff member who’s taking their order, and vice versa.
Work on the system began several years ago. The more recent drive-thru advance for the coffee giant has been its stepped-up reliance on that sales channel. CEO Kevin Johnson recently told CNBC’s Jim Cramer that the bulk of Starbucks’ near-term domestic development will be in middle America and Southern California, and a high majority of the new units will sport drive-thrus.
Long John Silver’s
The quick-service seafood chain recently lifted the wraps off a new prototype that features a modernized drive-thru. The 55-inch menu boards are digital, with animation calling attention to particular items. They provide high-fidelity audio as well as high-definition visuals. Restaurants outfitted with the new technology, part of an overall update package, have seen double-digit sales increases, according to the chain.
Taco Bell
The Mexican behemoth hasn’t changed its drive-thrus, but it is testing a new way of increasing their use. Through a collaboration with the Lyft ride-sharing service, the chain is inviting customers in Southern California to effortlessly request that their driver make a detour to a Taco Bell drive-thru. All the patrons need do is signal their desire through a new Taco Mode feature on the Lyft app.
Initial results from the Orange County test have been mixed at best. Lyft drivers have complained about having to clean up spills to keep their vehicles up to the service’s standards, and note that it’s sometimes hard to get the aroma of Mexican food out of the car.
Chick-fil-A
The chicken chain was ahead of the pack in rethinking its drive-thru processes. Years ago, it switched to a setup it calls face-to-face. A staffer armed with a tablet approaches a car as it pulls onto the line and takes the order, relaying it immediately to the kitchen. The crewmember then moves to the next arriving car, while another employee approaches the vehicle whose order has just been taken and handles payment.
The notion is to fire down orders as soon as a carbound customer arrives and thereby slash the overall wait time—in half, according to the chain.
Chick-fil-A has even developed special seasonal clothing for the drive-thru team to lessen discomfort from wintertime cold or summertime heat. It says the approach has enabled the chain to handle 100 cars an hour during peak times.
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