It’s also bad for business. Handley says customers complain about the lack of a drive-thru and that it’s possible his restaurant loses out on business that goes to the grand-fathered-in restaurants with drive-thrus.

“It’s more advantageous to have a drive-thru than not,” he says.

Mark Godward, president of Miami-based operations engineering consulting firm SRE, agrees. He says upward of 70 percent of a quick-serve’s business can be done through the drive-thru during the breakfast daypart, and depending on the chain, it can play a significant part at lunch and dinner times as well.

Not having a drive-thru would put a restaurant at a huge disadvantage, he says. “If you’re McDonald’s going into [a market that has a moratorium on new drive-thrus] and Dunkin’ Donuts has a drive-thru, then you know Dunkin’ Donuts will have a huge advantage over you or vice versa.”

Earlier this year Handley led a charge to have San Luis Obispo’s drive-thru ordinance repealed, but the city council voted down the proposal 3 to 2. He says it’s possible that he will try again when a new council is in place, but for now there’s little he can do.

Godward says that doesn’t have to mean the death of prosperity and convenience in quick-serves. The industry is always evolving to meet a variety of challenges (think abolishing trans fats), and stepping up to face this one shouldn’t be any different.

“There are some options that could be explored—none of them as effective as a drive-thru—but they could dilute the disadvantage of not having drive-thru to some extent,” Godward says.

Already companies are starting to experiment with takeout.

“There are several things that we’re investigating that are already seeking to address this issue,” says Daren Haas, director of marketing for HM Electronics (HME), a drive-thru solutions provider.

One of those solu(crfa)tions is cell phone ordering, whereby customers can send in orders via a mobile Web browser or text message before reaching the restaurant. When they arrive on location, they’ll be prompted by signage to park in dedicated spaces, where employee runners can deliver the food from inside.

HME, Haas says, is working to design a system that could detect when a specific car is in the designated spot—via video, magnetic, or ultrasonic means—so employees inside would know when to deliver that car’s particular food order.

“That’s where things are headed in the future,” he says, adding that market tests could begin within the next two years.