When it’s right, you can feel it. The greeting is immediate, pleasant, and clear. Menu choices are easy to choose from and the order is verified on screen, by voice, or both. The food is waiting for you at the window. Payment is exchanged, condiments are offered, and the food passed through the window, all with an inviting smile and pleasant attitude. It could be relief or contentment or outright joy but when the drive-thru experience is right, you feel it.
What we know is that feeling needs to be replicated hundreds of times a day. The 1,000 consumers participating in the 2007 Drive-Thru Consumer Survey reported visiting drive-thrus an average of 5.7 times over a 60-day period. More than one-third use a drive-thru more than six times over 60 days. Forty-five percent prefer the drive-thru over the dining room. Jack In The Box says that more than two-thirds of its orders are passed through its drive-thru windows.
What we know is that satisfaction is desired by the consumer. Fifteen percent of respondents said they have stopped going to a quick-serve because of one bad experience. Another 33 percent are pushed away by several bad experiences. With so many consumers using the drive-thru and demanding an uncompromising experience, building a better drive-thru has become an industry-wide obsession.
At the most basic level, the order has to be right. More consumers (80 percent) rated order accuracy as important to a good drive-thru experience than any other factor. Accuracy outranks speed any way the question is posed. Seventy-two percent said they would choose a restaurant with better quality food over a fast drive-thru, and 68 percent said they want the order to be accurate over fast. On the other end, only 21 percent said their biggest concern was speed and a low 8 percent said speed was more important than accuracy.
Even though the percentage of respondents satisfied with order accuracy (73 percent) is less than the number who feel it is important, its value is not lost on the industry. About half of all the chains surveyed said preparation was the top priority, with the other half placing equal weight on preparation and speed.
“Our goal is to always provide the highest- quality food and the fastest service around,” says KFC spokesperson Rick Maynard. “Each is equally important, and we don’t compromise on either.”
“Taste always comes first,” says Brian Dixon, vice president of marketing for Taco John’s. “We won’t compromise quality but we have had to look at added equipment and some ingredient changes in order to improve cooking or holding [time] to facilitate speed.”