Onerecord-breaking McDonald’s drive-thrulast year served an astounding356 customers in one hourthat’s about one vehicle every 10 seconds.
Of course, not every location is quite so efficient.
Elsewhere, customers face long lines of cars, extended wait times, and incomplete or inaccurate orders.
Photo: KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP via Getty Images
These kinds of frustrations can really make you think twice about pulling into your local drive-thru again.
That’s the good news.
The more nuanced takeaway is that some chains are doing a much better job than others.
Photo: Courtesy of Taco Bell
Many of the country’s most popular fast-food companies are now taking bold action to improve the drive-thru experience.
Several of them are testing new technologies, often involving artificial intelligence (A.I.
), to make the ordering process more orderly and reduce customer wait times.
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It’s still not an exact science.
Even so, many other chains are moving forward with their own high-tech pilot programs.
Each lane gets its own specific purpose.
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But Taco Bell’s speedy performance isn’t limited to the futuristic Minnesota restaurant alone.
The other is a unique concept in New York City where no actual driving is required.
Customers simply walk-up to retrieve their digital orders.
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Parent company Yum Brands is integrating A.I.
into its operations at many of its restaurant brands, including KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut.
Rather than having to memorize best practices from a training manual, they can simply ask the app.
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Carl’s Jr. voicebot system at 58 drive-thru locations.
The meat-centric sandwich chain has ranked in the top 5 for customer satisfaction every year since 2020.
Arby’s had the fourth-fastest total drive-thru time overall in 2023, averaging 319.64 seconds.
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The Massachusetts-based chain has ranked in the top 5 for fastest total drive-thru time for the past three years.
In some locations, Dunkin' offers a drive-thru lane specifically for mobile orders.
Customers are still waiting longer to order and pick up their food than they do elsewhere, however.
Photo: Wendy’s
Wendy’s ranked 8th in wait time and 7th in total drive-thru time.
The chain is betting big on A.I.
to improve both speed and accuracy.
Last year, Wendy’s expanded its partnership with Google Cloud in rolling out acustom-made generative A.I.
voicebot systemcalled Wendy’s FreshAI, which creates personalized responses to customers.
In an email to theNew York Times, the company noted that it’s A.I.
system can functionwithout human help on 86% of orders.
Wendy’s plans to expand the program to more locations and allow franchisees access to the technology as well.
