If you’re seeking the best drive-thru intercom headset system for your food truck, coffee stand, or kiosk, look no further than the DTX1 Wireless Intercom System.
Here’s why it’s an excellent choice:
1. Affordability: The DTX1 system is budget-friendly, making it accessible for small businesses like food trucks.
2. High-Quality: It offers exceptional audio quality, ensuring clear communication between your staff and customers.
3. Ease of Installation: The DTX1 is easy to install and maintain, minimizing downtime and hassle.
4. Components: The complete system includes two headsets, a microphone and speaker desktop, an ultrasonic vehicle detector, and a powerful speaker.
5. Customer Service Improvement: By using this system, you can enhance order accuracy and speed of service, ultimately leading to increased sales.
Remember, maintaining your drive-thru window and implementing safety protocols are equally crucial for a successful food truck business.
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A drive-through or drive-thru (a sensational spelling of the word through), is a type of take-out service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was pioneered in the United States in the 1930s[citation needed], and has since spread to other countries. Hillcrest State Bank, Dallas, Texas, installed the first drive-through banking system in America. It was a George Dahl designed building, constructed in the 1920s, across from SMU.[citation needed] The second recorded use of a bank using a drive-up window teller was the Grand National Bank of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1930. The drive-up teller allowed only deposits at that time.[1] DRIVETHRUCITY
Orders are generally placed using a microphone and picked up in person at the window. A drive-through is different from a drive-in in several ways - the cars create a line and move in one direction in drive-throughs, and normally do not park, whereas drive-ins allow cars to park next to each other, the food is generally brought to the window by a server, called a carhop, and the customer can remain in the parked car to eat. However, during peak periods, to keep the queue down and avoid traffic flow problems, drive-throughs occasionally switch to an "order at the window, then park in a designated space" model where the customer will receive their food from an attendant when it is ready to be served. This results in a perceived relationship between the two service models.
Drive-throughs have generally replaced drive-ins in popular culture, and are now found in the vast majority of modern American fast-food chains. Sometimes, a store with a drive-through is referred to as a "drive-through", or the term is attached to the service, such as, "drive-through restaurant". or "drive-through bank". DRIVETHRUCITY
Drive-throughs typically have signs over the drive-through lanes to show customers which lanes are open for business. The types of signage used is usually illuminated so the "open" message can be changed to a "closed" message when the lane is not available.
Drive-through restaurants[edit]
A drive-through restaurant generally consists of:
- A speaker and microphone for customers to place their orders
- A speaker and microphone or wireless headset system for employees to hear the customer's order (when a speaker is used)
- A trigger pad beneath the concrete to activate the microphone and headset, possibly augmented with a CCTV camera
- One or more free-standing signs listing the menu items, called a menu board
- Newer drive-throughs feature a LCD or LED display within the speaker system in order to show the full order and total cost to avert order errors through miscommunication. At many brands of restaurants, a secondary display featuring the total is placed directly next to the order window. This is to ensure that the customer will know if the cashier intentionally overcharges them. DRIVETHRUCITY
- Windows where employees interact with customers by processing the customer's payment and giving them their order. Most drive-throughs have either one window serving both functions, or two windows with the first being used for payment and the second used for retrieving the order.
- Most restaurants have marked parking spaces just beyond the last window. If there is a significant delay in an individual customer's order (e.g. a special order), an employee may direct that customer to park in this area, clearing the drive-through lane for the next customer and preventing knock-on delays to other customers. When the order is ready, an employee hand-delivers the order to the customer. This service therefore occasionally has some similarities to drive-in service, but only during peak periods.
Drive-through designs are different from restaurant to restaurant; however, most drive-throughs can accommodate four to six passenger cars or trucks at once (called the queue).[citation needed] Most drive-through lanes are designed so the service windows and speaker are on the driver's side of the car, for example, in left-hand traffic (right-hand drive) countries such as the UK, Ireland, Australia, India and New Zealand, the windows will be on the right side of the drive-through lane, and vice versa in right-hand traffic (left-hand drive) countries such as North America and mainland Europe. There are a few drive-through lanes designed with the service windows on the passenger side, but these lanes are disfavored as they cannot be used easily by cars with only a driver.
According to a 2021 report in QSR Magazine, 42 percent of all customer traffic came to the drive up window. The fastest drive-through of 2020 in the United States was Taco Bell, with an average time of 4.46 minutes, followed by KFC with 4.53 minutes, 4.76 minutes at Carl's Jr and 4.91 minutes at Dunkin'.[2]
Coffee is sometimes sold at a drive-through coffee shops.[3]
History[edit]
In 1921, Kirby's Pig Stand introduced the drive-in restaurant, in which carhops delivered meals. In 1931, a California Pig Stand franchise introduced a drive-through service that bypassed the carhops. In 1948, Harry and Esther Snyder of the In-N-Out Burger chain built the first true drive-through restaurant, featuring a two-way speaker system that Harry Snyder invented himself earlier that year. By the 1970s, drive-through service had replaced drive-in restaurants in the United States.[4] DRIVETHRUCITY
The first McDonald's drive-through was created in 1975 in Sierra Vista, Arizona, near Fort Huachuca, a military installation, to serve military members who were not permitted to get out of their cars off-post while wearing fatigues.[5] The original McDonald's was closed down and demolished in May 1999 and a new McDonald's replaced it.
In 1987, the concept of the double vehicle drive-through was pioneered by Bob Charles. Charles, a franchisee of McDonald's based in Boulder, Colorado, was the first to design and implement this innovation, which resulted in significantly increased per unit volume.
In 1981, Max Hamburgers opened Northern Europe's first drive-in in Piteå.[6]
Another early drive-through restaurant in Europe, a McDonald's drive-through, opened at the Nutgrove Shopping Centre in Dublin, Ireland, in 1985.[7]
In the US, drive-throughs account for 70 percent of McDonald's business and the average drive through order is fulfilled in under three and one half minutes.[8] Outside of the US, McDonald's drive-throughs are variously known as "McAuto", "McDrive" and "AutoMac".[citation needed] DRIVETHRUCITY
In 2010, the Casa Linda, Texas, franchise of McDonald's opened a drive-through/walk-up-only store with no indoor seating although it has a small patio with tables.[9]
In McDonald's in the UK, all McDonald's are going under an EOTF transformation (Experience of the Future), where many McDonald's with Drive-Thrus will have a third window. This would be where at the second window, the presenter would tell customers to pull up to the third window (if they've got a larger order and have longer to wait), this is known as the "fast forward window". This reduces waiting times for customers.
Drive-through banking[edit]
A drive-through for
BNB in
La Paz, Bolivia, an example of drive-through banking
A drive-through shared by a bank and a coffee shop.
In 1928, City Center Bank, which became UMB Financial Corporation, president R. Crosby Kemper opened what is considered the first drive-up window.[citation needed] Shortly after the Grand National Bank in St Louis opened up a drive-through, including a slot to the side for night time deposits.[10] Westminster Bank opened the UK's first drive-through bank in Liverpool in 1959, soon followed by Ulster Bank opening Ireland's first in 1961 at Finaghy.[11]
In recent years, there has been a decline in drive-through banking due to increased traffic congestion and the increased availability of automated teller machines and telephone and internet banking.[citation needed] However, many bank buildings now feature drive-through ATMs.
Drive-through stores[edit]
Grocery shopping[edit]
Harold Willis and his father, Robert Willis, first incorporated a dairy and eggs drive through service in Redlands, California, in the early 1940s, supplying milk and eggs quickly and efficiently to driving customers; this utilized a dairy conveyor belt that Harold Willis had invented.[12] Some supermarkets offer drive-through facilities for grocery shopping. In the UK, this service was first announced by Tesco in August 2010.[13] In the United States, Crafty's Drive-Buy Grocery Store in Virginia started offering the service. In 2012, the Dutch chain Albert Heijn introduced a "Pick Up Point" where one can collect groceries bought online.[14]
Dairy products are available at a drive-through dairy store (notably the Skinner Dairy shops of North-East Florida or Dairy Barn in Long Island).[citation needed]
In the early 1990s, the French Jean Duchaine came up with the idea of using drive-thru for the retail market. The drive-thru was the Pillar of a full concept built with many innovative ideas: walk-thru, dark store, market place, big data, ads...[15][16] DRIVETHRUCITY
Liquor stores[edit]
Alcoholic beverages have been sold at a drive-through liquor store (called a "Beer Through", a "Cruise Through", a "Brew Thru" in the U.S. eastern Mid-Atlantic coast,[17] or a "Pony Keg" in certain areas; generally illegal in the Northeast and West) DRIVETHRUCITY
Drive-through medical testing[edit]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, drive-through testing became a common approach around the world for testing people who were potentially infected with the virus.[18] In 2020, drive-through testing facilities were set up in many countries to test whether passengers were infected with COVID-19 (the first being in South Korea).[19][20]
This approached allowed medical workers to process high volumes of tests quickly while reducing exposure and risk of infection between those being tested by keeping patients isolated in their vehicles.[21]
The process typically saw patients present their ID before being swabbed while remaining in their vehicles, before driving off once the test was complete. Their results were then typically shared with them either via text message or via their doctor.[22]
Emissions and traffic[edit]
Emissions[edit]
In recent years, drive-through restaurants and other drive-through facilities have faced increased scrutiny due to the higher levels of emissions that they create – compared to walk-in equivalents. A 2018 study by QSR Magazine found that the average waiting time at a McDonald's drive-through restaurant in the US took 3 minutes and 15 seconds, with an average of 3.8 cars waiting at any one time.[23] This figure rose to an average of 4 minutes 25 seconds in 2019.[24] DRIVETHRUCITY
If the average motorist avoided idling for just 3 minutes every day of the year, CO2 emissions would be reduced by 1.4 million tonnes annually, or the equivalent of taking 320,000 cars off the road.[25][26][27]
In response to emerging evidence of the role that drive-throughs play in contributing to climate change, Minneapolis banned the construction of new drive-throughs in 2019, while a number of other US cities including Creve, Coeur, Fair Haven and Orchard Park have enacted ordinances to restrict or prohibit fast-food drive-through restaurants.[28][29]
Outside the US, a total of 27 municipalities have banned drive-through restaurants on the grounds of environmental and health concerns from engine idling[30]
Traffic[edit]
Long drive-through lines in the United States have been reported to cause traffic backups, blocking emergency vehicles and city buses and increasing the risk of collisions and pedestrian injuries. The popularity of Chick-fil-A's drive-throughs in particular has led to traffic problems, police interventions, and complaints by neighboring businesses in more than 20 states.[31][32][33]
Other examples[edit]
Some other examples of drive-through businesses include:
Non-car usage[edit]
Pedestrian[edit]
Pedestrians sometimes attempt to walk through the drive-through to order food after the seated section of a fast-food restaurant has closed. Many establishments refuse drive-through service to pedestrians for safety, insurance, and liability reasons.[37] Cyclists are usually refused service with the same justification given.[38] However, in the summer of 2009, Burgerville gave use of the drive-through window to bicyclists.[39] Similar issues can arise in rural areas for people on horseback or in a horse-drawn carriage.[40] DRIVETHRUCITY
On 20 July 2013, a woman was fined for taking her horse inside a McDonald's restaurant in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, after being refused service at the drive-through. The horse ended up defecating inside the restaurant which caused distress to other customers.[41]
In May 2016, Scott McGee filed a United States federal class action lawsuit pursuing action against McDonald's due to the company being unwilling to serve people who are visually impaired when only the drive thru lane is open.[42] As of October 2018, the matter was still in litigation.[citation needed]
On May 24, 2018, a law came into effect in Portland, Oregon, requiring multi-modal access to drive-throughs.[43] The new zoning law states, "When a drive-through facility is open and other pedestrian-oriented customer entrances to the business are unavailable or locked, the drive-through facility must serve customers using modes other than a vehicle such as pedestrians and bicyclists."[44] DRIVETHRUCITY
Walk-up windows[edit]
DRIVETHRUCITY
McDonald's walk-up window (left) at a location in New York City
Some establishments provide a walk-up window instead when a drive-through may not be practical. However, the walk-up windows should not be confused with small establishments that customers are lined up for services such as mobile kitchens, kiosks or concession stands. These walk-up windows are value-added services on top of the full services provided inside the stores.[45]
The walk-up windows generally provide similar customer experience with the drive-throughs by allowing customers to receive services from the exterior of the facilities through a window. There are many reasons for the owners to provide such services. An example is when McDonald's entered a new market in Russia where the majority of families did not own cars, the owners developed the walk-up windows as an alternative.[46] Another reason is to have a drive-through experience in the locations that are not feasible to construct a drive-through lane such as in city centers. Some establishments may want to use walk-up windows to attract certain customer demographics such as younger customers who need quick service during late night.[45] Another reason is to offer extended service hours and maintain a safe environment for employees, such as a bulletproof walk-up window in high-crime areas.[47]
Ski-through[edit]
McDonald's first opened a ski-through called McSki in the ski resort of Lindvallen, Sweden, in 1996.[48]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
-
^ "Popular Mechanics". Books.google.com. Hearst Magazines. July 1930. p. 13. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
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^ Klein, Danny (2021-09-01). "The Future of Fast-Food Drive-Thru Arrives Early". QSR. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
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^ Industry, News (2009-01-16). "Drive-Thru Coffee Shop Saw Success in 2008". QSR. Retrieved 2021-09-16.
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^ Witzel, Michael Karl (2013). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. Oxford University Press. pp. 654–655. ISBN 978-0-19-973496-2.
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^ "Our History". McDonalds.com. 2010-10-01. Retrieved 2013-01-27.
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^ "History | Max". Maxarabia.com. 2015-10-23. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
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^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 26, 2010. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
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^ Purdy, Chase (20 June 2017). "Americans won't wait more than four minutes for a slightly less disgusting hamburger". Quartz (publication). Retrieved 20 June 2017.
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^ "Casa Linda - Casa Linda". Mctexas.com. Archived from the original on 2013-01-28. Retrieved 2013-01-27.
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^ "Popular Mechanics". Books.google.com. Hearst Magazines. July 1930. p. 13. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
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^ "Ulster Bank - drive through banking". 2008-06-23. Archived from the original on June 23, 2008. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
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^ "Obituary for Harold Wendt Willis - REDLANDS, CA". www.emmersonbartlett.com. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
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^ "Tesco trials UK's first drive-through supermarket". The Guardian. 22 August 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
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^ "Albert Heijn Pick Up Point". YouTube. 2012-10-31. Archived from the original on 2013-03-16. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
-
^ @JeanDuchaine (2 May 2022). "In the early 90's, I invented the DRIVE-THRU for the retail market 💡➡️ The drive-thru was the Pillar of a full con…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
-
^ @JeanDuchaine (2 May 2022). "🇫🇷 In 90's, NO retailer wanted any DRIVE-THRU🇺🇸 1998: My Project was proposed to one of biggest retailers with📀 P…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
-
^ "Soda or Pop? Maps Show Americans' Colorful Dialect Differences - DiscoverMagazine.com". discovermagazine.com.
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^ "Coronavirus: Drive-through testing centre launched in Wales". www.bbc.com. BBC. 6 March 2020.
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^ Bicker, Laura (12 March 2020). "Coronavirus in South Korea: How 'trace, test and treat' may be saving lives". BBC News.
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^ ""하차없이 10분 만에 OK"...드라이브 스루 선별진료소". 메디칼업저버 (in Korean). 2020-03-06. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
-
^ Flynn, E. F.; Kuhn, E.; Shaik, M.; Tarr, E.; Scattolini, N.; Ballantine, A. (29 May 2020). "Drive-through COVID-19 testing during the 2020 pandemic: A safe, efficient, and scalable model for pediatric patients and health care workers". Academic Pediatrics. US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health. 20 (6): 753–755. doi:10.1016/j.acap.2020.05.018. PMC 7256536. PMID 32479895.
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^ "Going to a drive-thru Covid-19 testing site? Here's a step-by-step look at what to expect". www.usatoday.com. USA Today. 20 March 2020.
-
^ "The 2018 QSR Drive-Thru Study". www.QSRmagazine.com. QSR Magazine. 2 October 2018.
-
^ "Fast food drive-thrus: Which chains are fastest and slowest?". www.usatoday.com. USA Today. 2 October 2019.
-
^ "Emission impacts resulting from vehicle idling". www.nrcan.gc.ca. Government of Canada. 20 September 2016.
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^ "Why reopening drive-thrus puts Irish health at risk". www.irishevs.com. IrishEVs. 12 May 2020.
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^ "How big a problem is idling?". www.cbc.ca. CBC. 7 November 2019.
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^ "Cities ban new drive-thrus to fight climate change". www.CBSnews.com. CBS. 14 October 2019.
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^ Helmer, Jodi (10 October 2019). "Why U.S. cities are banning new fast-food drive-throughs". NPR.
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^ Nykiforuk, C. I.; Campbell, E. J.; MacRidis, S.; McKennitt, D.; Atkey, K.; Raine, K. D. (15 January 2018). "Adoption and diffusion of zoning bylaws banning fast food drive-through services across Canadian municipalities". BMC Public Health. National Institutes of Health. 18 (1): 137. doi:10.1186/s12889-018-5061-1. PMC 5769538. PMID 29334935.
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^ Gibson, Kate (March 17, 2022). "California city may declare Chick-fil-A a "public nuisance"". CBS News. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
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^ Times Staff (March 15, 2022). "Chick-fil-A isn't the first to get backlash over a drive-through. It's a California tradition". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
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^ Russell, Stefene (March 17, 2022). "Here are the worst drive-thrus in Utah, according to you". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
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^ Hendin, David (1973). Death as a Fact of Life. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. p. 221. ISBN 0-393-08540-6.
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^ "Nagano drive-thru funeral home to serve mourners with limited mobility". Kyodo News Agency. Japan Times. 16 December 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
-
^ "Want fries with that legislative help?". Pittsburgh Post Gazette. PG Publishing Co. Associated Press. 2009-04-18. Archived from the original on May 5, 2009.
-
^ See Chude v. Jack in the Box, 185 Cal. App. 4th 37 (2010). In this case, Jack in the Box successfully invoked the California Personal Responsibility Act of 1996 against an uninsured driver who spilled hot coffee on herself in the drive-through, then suffered second-degree burns because the wall of the restaurant prevented her from opening her car door and escaping the hot coffee on her car seat. Under the Act, plaintiff's lack of vehicle insurance barred her from recovering noneconomic damages, which form the bulk of damages in many U.S. personal injury cases. The Court of Appeal reasoned that the burn injury was reasonably related to the operation of a motor vehicle because Jack in the Box, in accordance with its strict policy, would not have served her if she had approached the drive-through window on foot; and because her injuries were exacerbated by the fact she was sitting in a car.
-
^ "The Daily Spirit-Human: Burger King Drive-Through Refused to Serve me on a bicycle". Archived from the original on July 9, 2006. Retrieved April 2, 2006.
-
^ Rose, Joseph (August 13, 2009). "Burgerville to biking mom: No burgers for you!". Oregon Live. Retrieved August 28, 2011.
-
^ "McDonald's turns away horse carriage at drive-through". BBC News. 25 May 2011.
-
^ "Horse in McDonald's: Rider fined after 'drive-thru' refusal". BBC News. 2013-07-22. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
-
^ "Blind man sues McDonald's for refusing drive-thru service". Usatoday.com. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
-
^ Elise Herron (May 30, 2018). "It Is Now a Violation of Portland City Code For Drive-Thru Windows to Refuse to Serve People Who Pedal or Walk to the Window". Willamette Week. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
-
^ "33.224 Drive-Through Facilities" (PDF), Portland Zoning Code, Bureau of Planning, City of Portland, Oregon, August 22, 2018 [1991], §33.224.070 Multi-Modal Access
-
^ Jump up to:a b Luna, Taryn (19 December 2013). "McDonald's walk-up window to offer 24-hour service". Boston Globe. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
-
^ Hoskisson, Michael A. Hitt, R. Duane Ireland, Robert E. (2013). Strategic management : competitiveness & globalization (10th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. pp. 212–213. ISBN 978-1133495239.
-
^ "ABC Board Shutters Calera Package Store "Drive-Through"". The Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (Press Release). 14 February 2014. Archived from the original on September 21, 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
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^ "The 14 craziest McDonald's around the world". Archived from the original on 2015-10-16. Retrieved 2015-02-04.
Ray Croc the founder of McDonalds. DRIVETHRUCITY
While Ray Croc implemented and authorize the installation, it was one of his employees who had the idea and was persistent enough to push the issue up the chain of command. (according to Paul Harvey's "the rest of the story"
Respecfully, the above info is not correct. The first drive-thru windows were in existence a few years before Ray opened his first McDonald's.
It was Harry and Esther Snyder, of the In-N-Out Burger chain that built the first drive-through restaurant in 1948. Harry and Esther, the chain's founders, built their first restaurant in Baldwin Park, California, with a two-way speaker to enable patrons to order directly from their cars without the intermediation of a carhop. Within 5 years, they had added a drive-up window to one of their locations, though not all locations would receive a window. DRIVETHRUCITY
10 Things You Didn't Know About the Fast Food Drive-Thru
Here are some fascinating factoids that'll make for great conversation the next time you're waiting on line at the drive-thru—and that perhaps will even influence what you order. DRIVETHRUCITY
The drive-thru is getting slower. OK, so maybe this is one part of the drive-thru experience that doesn't come as a total surprise. But the latest version of an annual study from QSR Magazine (QSR = quick serve restaurant) confirms that wait times at the drive-thru are on the rise. Last year's study indicated that the average drive-thru wait time hit 181 seconds, up from 173 seconds the year before. According to the new study—an expanded version that incorporated 23 quick-serve restaurant brands, up from just seven in 2013—the average wait time reached a record high of 203 seconds. (Perhaps that's why people were so excited about McDonald's one-minute drive-thru guarantee.)
Midafternoon is when drive-thrus are fastest and friendliest. The wait at the drive-thru for breakfast tends to be mercifully brief, with the average clocking in at 175 seconds. This is understandable considering that breakfast orders tend to be small and simple, typically one person ordering coffee and a breakfast sandwich on the way to work. Not only do menus expand during lunch and dinner hours, but orders are more likely being placed for two or more people, and the customizable options multiply (for instance, the choice of sauce with a customer's nuggets or dressing with a salad). As a result, orders are more complicated and time-consuming to get ready, explaining why drive-thru lunch orders average 214 seconds, while dinner takes up the most time of all, 226 seconds. Overall, the optimal time of day to hit the drive-thru is the mid-afternoon "snack" period, when wait times average 173 seconds—and when, per the QSR survey, 33% of customers rate the service as "very friendly," the highest percentage of any order time. DRIVETHRUCITY
The first drive-thru opened in 1947 (and it wasn't a McDonald's). By the World War II era, carhop service for drive-up restaurants serving burgers and other fast-ish food was common. But it wasn't until 1947 that the first drive-thru opened, reportedly at Red's Giant Hamburg on Route 66 in Springfield, Missouri. Red's closed in 1984, so the award for the longest-running burger drive-thru goes to the original In-N Out Burger. It opened in 1948 in the Los Angeles area, and yes, it was based on the unique concept of a drive-thru hamburger stand using a (then) state-of-the-art two-way speaker box.
The first drive-thru-focused chain opened in 1951 (and it wasn't McDonald's). It was Jack in the Box, another California-born concept created to take advantage of the burgeoning car culture. The original Jack in the Box was in San Diego and was drive-thru-only, offering motorists hamburgers to go for 18¢ apiece. While most Jack in the Boxes now also have indoor dining areas, roughly 85% of the orders at its 2,250 locations are either drive-thru or to-go. Jack in the Box is also credited with creating a rather self-serving fake marketing holiday, National Drive-Thru Day, which is celebrated every July 24. DRIVETHRUCITY
McDonald's didn't have a drive-thru until 1975. The fast food brand most closely associated with the drive-thru—and fast food in general, for that matter—had no drive-thru until 1975, when the company's first was launched in Sierra Vista, Ariz. By that time, McDonald's already had 3,000 restaurants worldwide and was opening locations in Nicaragua, the Bahamas, and Hong Kong.
Drive-thru design heavily influences what we order. Those appetizing photos of combo meals are prominently featured on drive-thru menu boards for a reason: They are there to upsell customers and make the ordering process simpler—and quicker—according to restaurant experts. Photos distill the components of an order faster than even the briefest of descriptions, and pictures of combo orders are generally placed dead center on well-lit drive-thru menus because that's usually where the customer's eye goes first. Restaurants even find some benefit in making drive-thru customers wait a bit in line, with the so-called "car stack" of three or four vehicles allowing each party ample time to take in what's on the menu and be better prepared for placing orders quickly. The next drive-thru innovation could very well be touchscreen ordering, which allows customers to personalize orders without occupying the time of a restaurant employee; as a bonus to eateries, consumers tend to place higher-priced orders when using touchscreens. DRIVETHRUCITY
Wendy's has quickest service, Chick-fil-A is most accurate. While the data changes a bit from year to year, the 2012 drive-thru study indicated that the average wait time for a Wendy's order was just 130 seconds, the quickest in the field and more than one minute faster than Burger King. Meanwhile, Chick-fil-A was tops in terms of accuracy, getting 92% of orders correct. Overall order accuracy among all drive-thrus in the 2014 study was measured at 87%; Burger King accuracy was only 82%.
Drive-thrus are increasingly important to Starbucks. Starbucks is known mostly as a spot for enjoying the unrushed (read: slow) café experience, but nowadays 40% of Starbucks locations have drive-thrus for speedy on-the-go "refueling" transactions. What's more, Starbucks CFO Troy Alstead has said that going forward, 60% of new Starbucks opened will have drive-thrus. Having largely exhausted the potential to expand further into downtown locations where drive-thrus would be problematic or impossible, Starbucks is placing an emphasis on "off-highway kinds of locations" and "some of the remote areas around the country," Alstead said, to reach out to new customers. It certainly doesn't hurt that drive-thrus allow Starbucks coffee shops to speed up service, thereby serving more people and hiking per-store profits. "We have fantastic economics through our drive-thrus," said Alstead. "We're providing a great experience to our customers who are on the go, they're moving fast, they want that ability to stay in their car and experience Starbucks at the same time." DRIVETHRUCITY
Panera studied drive-thrus for 10 years before opening one. The fast-casual restaurant category, which has become a phenomenal success due to its mix of speedy service, customizable orders, and fresher and higher-quality fare, has been fairly reluctant to pull up to the drive-thru, so to speak. Why? One reason is the fear that the drive-thru cheapens the experience figuratively and literally, the latter because orders taken away in the car are prone to getting soggy or are otherwise less appealing than food fresh eaten on the spot. Panera Bread, one of the earliest players in the fast-casual space, reportedly studied drive-thru options for a decade before finally introducing one in 2005. That was only after the company settled on a design that would hide drive-thru operations from the regular counter-serve customers (they didn't want to disturb or distract anyone), and after developing special packaging that ensure "food integrity" in drive-thru orders. DRIVETHRUCITY
Chipotle is a drive-thru holdout, and may never give in. Experts in the field have said that a drive-thru would destroy the Chipotle experience, in which customers look at employees face-to-face, eyeball all the ingredients in front of them, and customize exactly what they want in their burrito or bowl. The question of if or when it will add a drive-thru comes up again and again, but thus far Chipotle hasn't gone there. And based on how successful Chipotle has been without offering drive-thru service, it hardly seems to need it.
History of the drive-thru: The innovation that changed the way Americans eat
Based on recent events, the drive-thru might be one of the most important inventions for the foodservice industry. DRIVETHRUCITY
While they’ve been around for a long time, drive-thrus are seeing a huge surge in usage during the coronavirus pandemic. After all, most restaurants across the country still aren't allowed to offer indoor dining, and people looking to get out of the house for a bite to eat don't have to go much further than their car.
Before drive-thrus, cars were rarely designed with cup holders. By the 1980s, the feature was considered a must-have in every car. (iStock)
But while it seems that almost every fast-food restaurant has a drive-thru lane, there was a time when people actually had to — gasp — get out of their cars every time they wanted to order a burger and fries.
The drive-thru has its origins tied to a chain of restaurants called the Pig Stand, which is credited with opening the first drive-in restaurant in Texas in 1921, according to History.com. Customers would park and a carhop would serve burgers and fries directly to their cars. A Los Angeles location of Pig Stand eventually offered the option of bagging up meals for takeout starting in 1931, laying the foundation for what later became the drive-thru.
Red’s Giant Hamburg in Missouri opened what is generally considered to be the first true drive-thru in 1947, Money.com reports. A year later, In-N Out Burger opened a drive-thru that used a state-of-the-art (at the time) two-way speaker box.
Then, in 1951, Jack in the Box opened in San Diego as a drive-thru only restaurant, coinciding with the growing popularity of car culture in America.
The popularity of the drive-thru has since had a huge impact on the fast-food industry, and not just in how the parking lots were designed. Restaurants that wanted to cater to the car crowd began to focus on easy-to-eat foods like burgers and bone-free pieces of chicken. French fries also became popular, albeit without any messy toppings, per History.com. DRIVETHRUCITY
But drive-thrus didn't just change how people ate — it affected the design of the automobile itself. Before drive-thrus, cars were rarely designed or manufactured with cup holders. By the 1980s, the feature was considered a must-have in every car. DRIVETHRUCITY
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