Customers still speak through the box, but voice-over-Internet protocol beams their request to a dedicated call-center professional, who then relays the order to computer screens back in the restaurant. This division of labor increases order accuracy and preparation speed, allowing employees to concentrate only on filling—not taking—the orders.
“It’s becoming more and more common,” says Brad Cleveland, president of the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), an organization that provides consulting, training, and professional membership services for the call-center industry. “It’s certainly not anything near ubiquitous, but there are pockets where it’s working very well.”
A case study provided by ICMI, for instance, includes testimony from a Wendy’s franchisee whose restaurants experienced a 4 to 5 percent increase in sales after outsourcing order taking to a call center.
Someday, Cleveland adds, call centers could even give way to the kind of sophisticated speech recognition software already used by credit card companies, airlines, and other businesses to assist customers over the phone.
Improve Existing Technology
If throwing out the traditional drive-thru speaker box sounds a bit drastic, there are other ways to improve drive-thru communications without reinventing the proverbial wheel.
Headset communication devices are nothing new to the quick-service kitchen, but there have been advancements in recent years that might just put your model out of date.
“I think some of the most essential materials are just the basics,” Godward says. “And that includes a good ordering system with some type of noise cancellation or filtering. Basic communications equipment that works well is critical.”
But basic today is not the analog sound system of old. Today’s headsets use digital technology to reduce the background noise and echo disturbance that could mean the difference between “fries” and “apple pies” in an order.
“If that communication is not crystal clear, the order taker will ask the customer to repeat themselves,” says Mark Hunter, marketing manager for 3M, a manufacturer of quick-service communication devices. “That takes time and energy, and the inefficiency drives the customer nuts.”
Newer communication systems can be preprogrammed with greeting and upselling messages or automated to engage as soon as a car reaches the ordering post. 3M has recently developed a fully digital model with networking capabilities, so it can tie into other applications in a smart kitchen, such as timers—another integral part of an efficient drive-thru.