The quick-serve industry’s never-ending quest to erase the unpleasant image of disgruntled drive-thru customers screaming orders into a clown’s face has seized onto new advances in technology.
The days of the one-window, one-lane drive-thru are long gone, replaced by touch-screen kiosks, call centers and something called Hyperactive Bob.
Each improvement targets the top two customer concerns — speed and accuracy.
“A lot of changes we’ve seen over the years have related to one or both of those things,� said Bob Sandelman, president of foodservice research firm Sandelman & Associates. “Drive-thru customers account for approximately 40 percent of fast-food business nationwide so that’s a good incentive for restaurants to do everything they can to improve the drive-thru experience.�
Call centers and kiosks
One of the biggest changes to the drive-thru is the introduction of call centers. When customer place an order the voice coming out of the speaker is no longer an employee inside the store, but a call center representative sometimes more than 1,500 miles away.
McDonald’s, which created its first drive-thru in 1975 in Sierra Vista, Ariz., Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. tested the system last year.
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