why food takes a lot less time to be delivered in drive-thrus as opposed to ordering them in dining rooms?

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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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Anonymous 0 Comments

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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