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    Case Study 3

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    Di Riku
    Fast-food drive-throughs originated in the 1920s but became more common and efficient over time. Now over 90% of McDonald's locations in the US have drive-throughs, which account for 80% of recent fast food growth. Chains are constantly trying to optimize the drive-through process to save even seconds per order through techniques like pre-making drinks based on regular customer patterns. While drive-throughs increase sales, they can also attract traffic complaints from nearby residents due to the ease and volume of ordering without leaving one's car.

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    Case Study 3

    Uploaded by

    Di Riku
    604 views2 pages
    Fast-food drive-throughs originated in the 1920s but became more common and efficient over time. Now over 90% of McDonald's locations in the US have drive-throughs, which account for 80% of recent fast food growth. Chains are constantly trying to optimize the drive-through process to save even seconds per order through techniques like pre-making drinks based on regular customer patterns. While drive-throughs increase sales, they can also attract traffic complaints from nearby residents due to the ease and volume of ordering without leaving one's car.

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    Fast-food drive-throughs originated in the 1920s but became more common and efficient over time. Now over 90% of McDonald's locations in the US have drive-throughs, which account for 80% of recent fast food growth. Chains are constantly trying to optimize the drive-through process to save even seconds per order through techniques like pre-making drinks based on regular customer patterns. While drive-throughs increase sales, they can also attract traffic complaints from nearby residents due to the ease and volume of ordering without leaving one's car.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    604 views2 pages

    Case Study 3

    Uploaded by

    Di Riku
    Fast-food drive-throughs originated in the 1920s but became more common and efficient over time. Now over 90% of McDonald's locations in the US have drive-throughs, which account for 80% of recent fast food growth. Chains are constantly trying to optimize the drive-through process to save even seconds per order through techniques like pre-making drinks based on regular customer patterns. While drive-throughs increase sales, they can also attract traffic complaints from nearby residents due to the ease and volume of ordering without leaving one's car.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Operations in practice Fast-food drive-throughs

    The quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry reckons that the very first drive-through dates back
    to 1928 when Royce Hailey first promoted the drive-through service at his Pig Stand restaurant
    in Los Angeles. Customers would simply drive by the back door of the restaurant where the chef
    would come out and deliver the restaurant’s famous ‘Barbequed Pig’ sandwiches. Today, drive-
    through processes are slicker and faster. They are also more common. In 1975, McDonald’s did
    not have any drive-throughs, but now more than 90 per cent of its US restaurants incorporate a
    drive-through process. In fact 80 per cent of recent fast-food growth has come through the
    growing number of drive-throughs. Says one industry specialist, ‘There are a growing number of
    customers for whom fast-food is not fast enough. They want to cut waiting time to the very
    minimum without even getting out of their car. Meeting their needs depends on how smooth we
    can get the process.’ The competition to design the fastest and most reliable drive-through
    process is fierce. Starbucks drive-throughs have strategically placed cameras at the order boards
    so that servers can recognize regular customers and start making their order even before it’s
    placed. Burger King has experimented with sophisticated sound systems, simpler menu boards
    and see-through food bags to ensure greater accuracy (no point in being fast if you don’t deliver
    what the customer ordered). These details matter. McDonald’s reckon that their sales increase
    one per cent for every six seconds saved at a drive-through, while a single Burger King
    restaurant calculated that its takings increased by 15,000 dollars a year each time it reduced
    queuing time by one second.

    Menu items must be easy to read and understand. Designing ‘combo meals’ (burger, fries and a
    cola), for example, saves time at the ordering stage. Perhaps the most remarkable experiment in
    making drive-through process times slicker is being carried out by McDonald’s in the USA. On
    California’s central coast 150 miles from Los Angeles, a call centre takes orders remotely from
    40 McDonald’s outlets around the country. The orders are then sent back to the restaurants
    through the Internet and the food is assembled only a few metres from where the order was
    placed. It may only save a few seconds on each order, but that can add up to extra sales at busy
    times of the day. But not everyone is thrilled by the boom in drive-throughs. People living in the
    vicinity may complain of the extra traffic they attract and the unhealthy image of fast food
    combined with a process that does not even make customers get out of their car, is, for some, a
    step too far.

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