Whenever I order something at, let’s say, Wendy’s, the food always takes around 10-15 minutes to be delivered, but in drive-thrus, they’re always ready the second I’m at the window.
The obvious answer would be that all food is pre-prepared for orders, but if that’s the case, then why do in-restaurant orders still take noticeably more time than drive-thrus to come out if it really is made in advance?
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It’s very simple actually. Fast foods restaurants with a drive through pririotize the drive through. if you’re in the drive through and I’m at the counter and we both order a big mac, you’re getting yours first.
place that have drive-thru normally prioritize serving said drive-thru in order to expedite more people per time.
And *why* prioritize the drive-thru? Because the likelihood of an impatient drive-thru customer leaving the line to head off somewhere else is significantly greater than someone inside leaving once they are already standing in line
Other comments are correct but since Covid I’ve seen a few changes:
Drive thrus more often kick you out of line to wait for something. It’s likely they count the order fulfilled when you pull away.
Drive thru lines are longer due to a shortage of workers. It’s been personally faster for me to run in and grab my food than wait in a drive thru.
Lots of good answers, but I would like to add this . . .
More and more you are seeing cars being asked to pull off to a restos “waiting area”, as fewer items are pre-prepped as used to be. This is more prevalent for “lunch/dinner” items than for breakfast ones, but many franchisees simply do not want to risk the wastage costs that come from having to dump fries, etc. This is particularly true now that cook times are precipitously faster than even just a few years ago.
I haven’t worked in fast food in years. In the drive thru, food is bagged, condiments added, and passed thru the window. Inside is more about presentation. You don’t want the fries cold, so they don’t get scooped until the burger is ready. I know not all restaurants care, but that’s how we did it.
Former UK McDonald’s manager here. No priority for one or the other. The made to order system in the UK produces food in the order it was placed irrespective of whether it’s the drive-thru or at the counter.
Everything (including in-person orders) are timed at all stages of the order. Every store/manager is different but generally you can show good service times (to the big bosses) by focusing on in person orders over drive-thru: when a car is parked up you can mark the order as complete and use the receipt to complete the order. The timer has now stopped while it’s parked.
Whereas, in person orders can’t be marked as complete until the food is served (only once handed out). What the misconception is, is that drive-thru is prioritised but in reality managers are always trying to ensure the team of employees on drive-thru aren’t taking it upon themselves to collect burgers/fries/drinks out of order (increased pressure on drive-thru causes this as the drive-thru is always busier)
I myself use to concentrate only on in person orders, and placed trust in more experienced staff on drive-thru to keep times down and service quality up!
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