Drive-through
A drive-through refers to a type of restaurant or part of a restaurant that serves customers in their vehicles. Orders are taken and food (typically fast food such as McDonald's) is served without the customers needing to leave their vehicles. This concept is also referred to as "drive-thru".
A drive-thru generally consists of one or more backlit free-standing signs listing the menu items, called a menu board; a speaker and microphone for customers to order from; a speaker and microphone or wireless headset system for employees to hear the customer's order; and one or more windows where employees interact with customers through taking money and/or giving the customer their food and drinks. Drive-thru designs are different from restaurant to individual restaurant, however, most drive-thrus can accommodate four to six passenger cars or trucks at once (called the queue).
Because most drive-through restaurants have parking for their customers, they have often hecome a location for teenagers and young men to eat out in their cars. This often has allowed for them to present their newly-bought or newly-modified cars to their friends. Usually the cars or modifications, as well as the food and drink consumed therin, were bought with the proceeds of part-time work they have done at the restaurant.
How it works
Usually, a drive-thru works by the following steps:
- A customer pulls up to the menu board and speaker area. There is an electronic device called a loop detector that senses the weight of the car. The loop detector sends a signal to the customer's ordering speaker, turning it on; and also sends a tone signal to the restaurant's order taking method, signaling employees that there is a car at the speaker.
- The employee inside responsible for drive-thru orders greets the customer and takes their order through suggestive selling methods and general questions. When the customer is finished, the employee reads back the entire order to the customer or refers the customer to a screen built into the speaker or menuboard that lists the entire order. When the employee and customer mutually agree that the order is correct, the employee gives the customer his or her total and invites them to pull to the next window.
- The customer pulls away from the speaker. The loop detector senses that the car is in motion, and sends a signal to the ordering speaker to shut it off.
- The customer moves to the window where money and food are exchanged. Once the customer has their food, they pull away.
Timing
With the demand for faster service comes the need to track time. Most major restaurant chains equip their drive-thru areas with timers so that managers and employees can identify trends in meal periods and employee performance. In this principle, loop detectors are used to capture timestamps for each part of the drive-thru:
- From the time that the customer pulls up to the speaker to the time that they are answered by an employee; this time is referred to as Greet.
- From the time that the customer pulls up to the speaker to the time that their car leaves the speaker; this time is referred to as Menu.
- From the time that the customer pulls up to the window to hand their cash to the employee to the time that the customer pulls away from the window; this time is referred to as Window.
- From the time that the customer pulls up to the speaker to the time that they pull away from the window; this time is referred to as Total or Overall.
Using timing data can help restaurant operators understand the precise nature of what customers are ordering at what times; where bottlenecks in service are occurring; and how to increase productivity to increase revenue dollar. Often, restaurants with fast drive-thru operations require a higher quality of employee training and dedication to quality itself.
Humor
Drive-thru operators and customers are often a target of humor, due to the sometimes unintelligible conversations between customer and employee.
In 2005, one major fast food company announced plans to take drive through orders from a central location, the theory being that dedicated order takers would make fewer errors than the in-store order takers.